Phoenix Honor
by Freakin-little
Summary: Seq. to Family Honor. The war is just beginning. Voldemort has returned, the Order has started back up and bonds are tested. With tension running high, will Aero and Fred be able to withstand the hardships? Twists and turns, secrets and suffering. DEATH..
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That right belongs to JK Rowling. **

**PHOENIX HONOR, which you happen to be reading, is the sequel to Family Honor. I reccomend reading FH first, but it's your choice, since FH was a little longer than I planned :) **

**In Phoenix Honor, it takes off with the storyline of Order of the Phoenix and ends in the Deathly Hallows. ****Other than that, this is rated M, people will die, I'm still following the original plot of Harry Potter. Alright? I'll try to delve into Aero's past a little more, get inside her head, and explore teh grown-up relationship between her and Fred while they go through the second war. _REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW _**

Everything was quiet at Malfoy Manor besides the sound of the piano as Draco got in his daily hour of play. It was normal. When they were little they had tutors who taught them French. When they got a little older, around age twelve, they were taught to Ball Room Dance. Ever since she could remember Aero had a servant woman here, Marcela, who would teach her proprer etiquete, which utensils to use during meals, to sit and walk straight, to move with grace. Marcela had died when Aero was fifteen, but since she had been a quiet woman who only every spoke harshly Aero had never thought much of it.

But Draco was downstairs, practicing piano. He was still doing the will of his parents, and though some may see it as fine, it worried Aero immensley.

She knew she had to get herself out of this house. She was turning eighteen soon and in her last year at Hogwarts. Things became even more complicated when she became an Auror and then joined the Order. She was the very opposite of Narcissa and Lucius...how long would it be until the shit hit the fan?

She took care in avoiding them. She was quiet during meals and left promptly after quietly being excused. During the day she mostly stayed at the office, trying to find the information Dumbledore wanted. And then she would go to the Order meetings, go back out and do an Auror mission and return to the manner. Of course she fit _quality _time with Fred in.

Nothing had been happening so far, as far as Voldemort was concerned. He was being pretty stealthy and it didn't help that the prophet only focused on discrediting Harry and Dumbledore. But no matter how much it bothered her, she followed Dumbledore's orders to the T. She apologized for the _disrespect _she showed Fudge while she had been in the infirmary. It got Fudge off her back so she could look for any files or something Dumbledore wanted.

Aero was sitting on her bed, slipping into a casual lavender sundress and lavender colored heeled sandals. She threw her black hair up into a spiky poinytail, thick side-bangs on the right side of her face. She slipped on the necklace Fred had given her before and grabbed her wand, apparrating from the Manor.

She came to a stop at the Burrow and Mrs. Weasley immediatley let her inside, talking happily as she bustled about the kitchen.

Arms wrapped themselves around her waist and she was pulled against Fred's hard chest. He kissed her cheek and smiled down at her.

"Hello there." He said.

"Hi yourself. What've you been up to?" she asked as he lead her up the stairs.

"George and I are just putting the finishing touches on some products." he shrugged, opening his bedroom door.

George was hovering over their desk, writing on a bit of parchment. He glanced up when the door closed.

"Hello." he grinned brightly before returning to his work.

"So you're really going to open the joke shop, then?" she asked, settling herself by the window.

"Sure are. Harry forced his plentiful winnings into our hands, and really,-"

"- who are we to deny a gift?"

Aero shook her head, smiling. Harry had refused to accept his Triwizard earnings, and no one could blame him. It was only later she fould out that he had given it to Fred and George in exchange that they would buy Ron some new dress robes. That train ride no one had really talked much. Fred barely left her side the whole time, and when he had it was when he got Harry's winnings. It had been a somber time.

But now most things were back to normal.

"So, you gunna tell us what you've been up to?" George asked.

She had yet to tell them about the Order of the Phoenix, per Dumbledore's orders. He had said they would know in time.

SHe shrugged.

"Auror missions, surviving life at the manor, the usual." she replied cooly.

"Aw..." George whined. "Nothing too exciting? No rebellion against Voldemort? I heard rumors of one in the first war, wouldn't that be wicked to join?"

Aero smiled tightly.

"I don't want you getting any more excitement, you get enough just going to school. I'm gunna go gray before I even hit twenty." Fred groaned.

Aero laughed. She remembered Fred's face every time something happened to her.

"Though it would be wicked..." Fred agreed.

"Your mother would never let you join." Aero reminded them.

"We're seventeen!" the chorused.

"In your mother's eyes you're not legal until you get out of this house, though taking a look at Charlie and Bill...maybe not even then." she said.

The twins frowned.

"We're legally adults. We get to make our own choices. It's high time we start living our own lives, especially now with the War coming up." George said.

"What kind of choices would you make that you haven't already made? You already do anything you want." Aero asked curiously.

She watched as George smirked and playfully punched Fred in the shoulder, and Fred immediatley frowned and shoved him, grumbling and muttering under his breath.

Aero raised an eyebrow.

"Well, for one thing, mum doesn't approve of the Joke Shop, but once we get a location set up it's a done deal." Fred said.

"It's the only thing we're really good at. We couldn't take sitting at a desk all day, and we don't have the attention spans to be little Aurors." George agreed.

George glanced at his brother before he smiled again.

"Not to mention the part where we'll be living our own lives then. Making a future, a _family_."

Fred seemed to twitch and his hand flung out, knocking over a jar of ink. He swore and flicked his wand to clean it up before glancing quickly, almost nervously at Aero and glared at his brother.

"What is up with you two?" Aero asked, exasperated.

"Nothing!" Fred replied quickly.

Aero rolled her eyes and jumped onto Fred's bed and began reading one of the many Witch Weekly magazines she'd left here. She had a few things here. She had a draw here in Fred's dresser with some clothes even. There were pictures everywhere.

There were some of George and Angelina, the old team with Wood, Weasley Family picture, and quite a few of Aero and Fred.

Aero sighed and fell backwards onto the bed, staring hard up at the ceiling. Sure, things were better, much better, between her and Fred. They said 'I love you' to each other constantly. They held hands, kissed everything. They were closer than they'd ever been before. And yet it wasn't close enough. She turned her head to the side and looked at the picture George had taken some time earlier this summer with Fred and her in the back yard, his arms around her as they laughed. She looked really...really, happy there.

And being with Fred made her happy. But she couldn't help the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. Fred had always told her he just wanted the truth, no secrets. And yet she hadn't told him about the Order. She hadn't told him how bad this war was getting. He didn't know.

And a part of her liked it like that. She liked that he didn't have to feel the painful uncertainty, the fear that snuck up on you when you least expected it. He didn't have to worry constantly, look over his shoulder. He was blissfully ignorant, and though he'd hate it later, she basked in it.

She watched him smile and laugh with George, his eyes sparkling in amusement. He was carefree, almost a certain innocence about him. He had been practically untouched by this oncoming chaos, and she couldn't bring herself to burst his perfect, sunny, happy bubble. It just seemed to wrong...

And then there was Harry. Harry was always lingering in her mind. He had, once, a very, very long time ago, known innocence like normal children. He was so young, he had so much potential. And seeing the way he smiled, truly smiled, on those rare occassions made her want to cry. She savored those moments. He always had so much going on, so much danger and drama. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and she felt like all she could do was watch from the sidelines as it would eventually, slowly collapse around him. He was her little brother. All she wanted to do was take him away from all this, hide him from the world and the suffering and tell him everything would be alright.

But they both knew it wouldn't.

She had written to Harry as soon as Summer started. He was very curious, wanting to know every little disturbance in the Wizarding world. He asked questions frequently and she answered them as best she could, but made them innocent enough in case the owls were intercepted. She felt horrible not being able to tell him what was going on. He deserved the truth, but there it was again...the ignorant bubble she couldn't bear to pop.

"You alright love?" she heard Fred ask her.

She looked at him again. George had disappeared and Fred was lying beside her on the bed. He draped an arm over her stomach.

"I'm fine.."

"No you're not. Something is bothering you...what is it?"

She sighed.

"Fred...you know how there are some things, some secrets, that you just can't tell? This is one of them. You can't know, not yet, soon though..."

He frowned but nodded and kissed her quickly. He brushed a thumb over her cheek, staring into her eyes, searching for something.

"Alright. But when those secrets get too much, get too bad, I want you to tell me, no matter who you promised."

"Alright." she replied.

"How is life at the Manor?" he asked casually.

She knew Fred didn't like her living there. She didn't like it either. She liked the warmth of the burrow, the business of the family. At the Manor it was so empty and cold.

"I won't be there much longer..."

He looked at her again.

"Well, Lucius is threatening me on a daily basis about disowning me. Narcissa is insisting on our break-up and me to be with Vain, but that's to be expected really. In their minds what I'm doing in wrong. It won't be long now before everything explodes and someone looses their cool." she admitted.

"And Draco?"

"Draco is...being the natural Slytherin he is. He tries to stay out of the arguements, but if they pull him in he sides with them. He comes to apologize to me afterwards, I know he doesn't mean anything by it, he's always just tried to please his parents. He doesn't like the fighting, he's scared. I know he knows about the war, how could he not with Lucius being who he is? Draco's never been one to actually go through with a fight, he's all just talk. But it's that need to please that's got me so worried for him. It's why I've stayed so long..."

"You don't want him to feel as though by leaving the family, you've left him."

"Exactly. The last thing I want is for him to think I abandoned him. I'd never do that...I don't want him to become his father either. I don't want to leave him by himself in that envirnment...the same one I grew up in. It really messes with a kid's head..." she mumbled.

Fred pulled her tight against him and rest his chin on her head.

"You can't always do what's best for everyone else, Aer. You have to take care of you too." he told her.

"I know, I know. I'll get out soon...it's just surprisingly hard."

"I imagine leaving any family is."

"That reminds me...how's Percy?"

It was Fred's time to sigh.

"Percy is a giant prat. He's 'disowned' himself from the family until we stop believing Dumbledore. And get this, we'll have to _apologize _to him. Him and dad had a big blow out. Never seen him so mad before. Mum was a mess, you know. Percy's killing her."

Aero rubbed his back soothingly.

"Percy will come around. You know it's not because he doesn't love you all, he's just one of the people who's too scared to admit he's back, he's just in denial. He'll come around eventually and then he'll have to apologize to _you_."

She felt Fred grin.

"Yeah, slimy little git. I'll make him beg. I'm not going to have mercy on him, you kow."

Aero laughed.

"Of course not."

The door opened. George was there with his hands over his eyes.

"Alright, put teh clothes back on you filthy animals, this is a public bedroom, not the Leaky Cauldron." he said.

Aero and Fred rolled their eyes and sat up.

"Clothes are all accounted for, Gred. Now open up those eyes before you knock something deliate over." Fred laughed.

George peaked through his fingers before putting his hand down with a grin.

"Good. I'd rather not walk in on my brother and his lady friend. Scratch that, I'd rather not walk in on my brother, you're fine Aer." George winked.

Fred promptly threw a pillow at his head.

"Just kidding mate, just kidding, no need to get violent."

Aero shook her head, smiling. Just then Bill burst into the room.

"Anyone here speak French?" he asked.

"I do...why?" Aero asked.

Bill blushed.

"Just uhm...wondering. You wouldn't mind coming into work with me one of these days, would you?"

"Uh..."

"Great. Thanks." he said before charging back through the door, narrowly missing Ron and Ginny who watched him leave before shaking their heads.

Ginny skipped into the room.

"You're hogging again. Didn't mum ever tell you to share?" Ginny chided Fred, tugging on Aero's arm.

"She taught me to share my toys, not my girlfriends."

"It was implied."

"She came here to see me."

"Well she did, now she's going to see me."

"You're right in front of her, she's seen you now off you trot, Gin."

"Fred!"

"Ginny!"

"George!"

The two swiveled around to look at the other twin.

He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Felt left out." he mumbled.

Aero sighed and Ginny took the opportunity to haul her out the door and up the stairs, Fred shouting and thundering after them, leaving a bewildered Ron on the staircase, shouting his alarm, Bill shouting into the fireplace at someone, George laughing loudly and Mrs. Weasley calling shrilly after them all to stop shouting and no running in the house.

Just a normal day at the Burrow. Too bad it wouldn't last...


	2. Chapter 2 Fairytale

**Song: **_That's when I love you_** - Aslyn**

Aero placed the folder down on the kitchen table. Dumbledore reached a hand out and picked it up, flicking through the contents.

"Is that the information on the Unspeakables?" Sirius asked as he plopped himself into a chair, munching on a ruby red apple.

"Yeah. Wasn't the easiest information in the world to get, by the way." Aero sighed.

"I'm not surprised that you were able to get it though, Aero. I'm assuming this information was heavily guarded?" Dumbledore asked.

"That would be the correct assumption, Professor D. It's just about as guarded as the Department of Mysteries itself."

"Excellent work."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Uhm...I got another owl from Harry..." Aero said.

"We cannot tell him just yet."

"I know...but is it really fair to keep him in the dark like this?"

"It is something we must do as of now. That goes for Mr. Weasley as well." The old man said with a knowing look in his eyes.

Aero sighed and rolled her eyes, running a hand distractedly through her hair.

"Alright, whatever you say..." she muttered.

She nodded her goodbye to the two and left teh kitchen. She passed the living room, seeing Desarie there, shifting through paper work as she sat on the couch. Tonks was climbing down teh stairs, a pile of books in her arms.

Ebony walked in the front door then, her exotic yet aristocratic beauty fitting right in with the decore of Grimmauld Place.

"Ah, 'ow iz my goddaughter?" she smiled, her old French accent barely noticeable.

"Fine, Ebony, fine. How's life at the Manor?"

"Tension filled, I'm afraid. Monty is very concerned about my safety."

"Well, how's the dark mark?"

"Burning strong, I can feel it, him summoning us. I refuse to go. Dumbledore iz moving us into a safe house, I wish not to impose on the Black's land, too many memories." the woman said.

Aero nodded and they parted ways, Aero reaching the doorstep where she apparrated back to the Malfoy Manor.

"Where have you been?" Narcissa asked.

Aero looked and saw her aunt sitting on one of the antique couches reading a thick book.

"I was out."

"I can see as much. I asked where."

"I was where I was."

"Stop talking back, Aeroanna. As long as I am your guardian-"

"Ah, and there enlies the catch. You're not. I'm seventeen, almost eighteen. I've been legal for practically a year. I run my own life now, Aunt Cissy." Aero said in a sing-song voice.

Narcissa pursed her lips.

"You live under this roof, you obey Lucius and myself, you ungrateful child."

"Well, simple arrangements can be made for that."

"Are you threatening to move out?" she asked.

"Is it considered a threat if it's more like a promise, or is it the same thing?" Aero wondered aloud.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Lucius asked in his usual, drawling voice.

"Nothing, in my opinion." Aero shrugged.

"She refuses to follow rules, Lucius!" Narcissa whined.

"She has never followed rules." Lucius agreed.

"If only you'd kicked me to the curb back then..." Aero sighed.

"I would've but I was legally responsible for you." Lucius said coldly.

"Well, as I pointed out to your lovely wife here, that is no longer the case."

"You live under this roof."

"What? Do you two share teh same brain or something?" Aero asked.

Narcissa sniffed and Lucius's lips flattened into hard lines.

"You ought to be very careful, Aeroanna LeStrange. You are walking a dangerous line. Step on the wrong side, and I won't be held responsible for my actions..." Lucius threatened lowly.

Aero glared hard at him before walking quickly up the staircase to her bedroom.

She needed to get out of the Manor. Lucius was keeping an eye on her most of the time. He knew where she was really going, who she was spending time with and it was wearing him thin. So if he hadn't acted now, it was on orders of someone else, though she had no idea who or why. Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with the Ministry or the Order if something were to happen to her by his hands.

It didn't matter. She needed to get out. She had a job, so money wasn't an issue and she still had access to her parent's vault, and she had a place to go. Either the Burrow, or most likely, Grimmauld Place with Sirius. It was just a matter of timing. While Lucius was watching her, she was watching him. Any information Snape couldn't get for Dumbledore, Lucius might. And Dumbledore wanted to make sure that Voldemort truly trusted Snape still, so maybe Lucius would know.

It was only a matter of time. Dumbledore said that when things got dangerous there, to move out. How long would it take for Lucius to blow his lid? And would she be able to leave when he did?

**o00o0o**

It was warm with a gentle breeze that came through the window, slightly ruffling her hair as she sat at the window seat, watcihng the stars that shined over the backyard. She watched a gnome run through the grass and dive under a bush. An owl hooted off in the distance. Tybalt, who was now staying there, purred in his sleep under the desk.

She leaned back against his chest, his arms circled around her waist.

"You've been quiet tonight." She commented softly.

"I know. I've been thinking about some things." he replied quietly.

"Good things or bad things?"

"Good things, I hope."

"You don't know?"

"It depends on how you look at it." he shrugged.

"Well, I can't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing if you don't tell me, can I?" she reasoned.

She wasn't sure she liked Fred being this quiet. Fred was loud and happy, practically all the time. Him being quiet was a rarity and she was uncomfortable with it.

She played with his fingers while she waited in silence.

"We've talked about the future before..." he began.

She nodded against his chest.

"Well...I don't want to talk about it anymore."

She frowned, staring down at his fingers which kept insisting on curling into his palms.

"Is it upsetting for you?" she wondered.

"No...I love thinking about our future. I do. And I like that you get so into it that you have curtain color ideas." Aero could hear the grin in his voice.

"So then why don't you want to talk about it anymore?" she asked.

"Well...because...I don't want to talk about it anymore...because I want to act on it."

He was so quiet she could barely hear the words. She frowned again.

"Act on it?"

"Yeah...I want to start that future with you."

Aero's eyes widened.

"That's a little spur of the moment, don't you think?" she said.

"Not for us. I think we're ready.  
He moved her slightly and he got up from behind her and despite teh warmth of the summer air around her she felt cold without him there. She heard his feet pad across the room and the door opened. She waited a moment before getting up and walking out after him.

The Burrow had a orange-yellow glow to it that night. She quietly walked down the stairs, her bare feet feeling the warm wood, her hands skimming the railings as she went. She rounded the landing and peered into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was there, humming to herself and making something in a pot. In the living room Bill was there with George and Ron playing a game of Wizard's chess. She looked around for Fred. Where had he gone?

She pulled on the blue and purple open plaid shirt she wore over her white tank-top and jean shorts. Aero bit her bottom lip and continued walking towards the screen back door.

"He's waiting for you out there." Ginny's voice said.

Aero spun around and saw Ginny leaning against the wall, a smile on her face.

"Why?" Aero asked.

Ginny shook her head and put a finger to her lips, saying she couldn't tell.

Why would Fred tell her not to tell?

Aero pursed her lips and turned towards the door again, quietly slipping outside. She could see something glowing a little ways away and she walked towards it, the grass tickling her ankles. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Ginny standing by the door, giving her a thumbs up before twirling away.

She made her way to the lights and saw they were jars filled with fireflies. The jars were placed in a wide shape, she could tell that much. And then Fred came out of teh darkness, a grin on his face.

"What are you doing?" Aero asked.

"Acting on that future." he said simply.

Aero opened her mouth to speak before she suddenly did a double take and looked at the shape again. It was a heart...he had caught fireflies and alligned the jars in teh shape of a glowing heart...


	3. Chapter 3 Broken home

**I am so sorry. I did NOT mean to leave it like that last chapter. SO SORRY. And thank-you very much, Ebony Dagger. You guys' reviews are amazing, thankies :)**

Aero looked around her, gazing at the jars before returning her gaze to Fred who stood before her, a faint flush in his cheeks, his hands behind his back.

"What's all this?" she asked quietly, amazed still, at the sight.

Fred stepped forward and they stood in the middle of the glowing heart together, Aero's heart felt like it was trying to beat right out of her chest. Fred placed a palm on her cheek and tilted her head up to look at him and she could see teh reflection of teh stars in his eyes.

"Because I love you." he answered simply.

"You captured fireflies because you love me?"

Fred grinned and a soft laugh escaped his lips before he leaned down and tenderly kissed her for a moment.

"Because I'm acting on that future we talked about, Aer."

Aero blinked in surprise. She looked up at him, puzzled. Aero knew something was happening, her heart beat faster and she felt weak at teh knees, though for reasons unknown to her mind. Fred held both her small hands in one of his and smiled.

"Confused is a cute look on you." he commented.

Aero rolled her eyes and the corner of her mouth quirked.

"Alright, I need to be serious now, or you'll think I'm joking. But I'm not joking. I'm the most serious I've ever been in my entire life."

"That doesn't say much."

Now it was Fred's turn to roll his eyes.

"Aeroanna Endora Black..." he said, pausing to get down on one knee, keeping her hands in his and looking up at her.

Aero's eyes widened and she bit her lip as she watched him.

"I love you, I truly love you, and I hope you know that. I know we've had our hard times, and we thought we'd never get back, but we did, and we've been stronger ever since. I've loved you ever since that _incredibly _awkward first train ride where I thought you'd hex my head back to my mother."

Aero gave a soft laugh despite the fact she found it hard to breath. Desarie had said Shane had done something like this when he...

"We've grown together. We've been best friends, lovers, enemies, back to lovers and we're here now, and I think we're ready to take the next step. And I know we're young, and I know it won't be easy. We grew up in completely different worlds but we fit together better than anyone thought possible. But I love you, and I know you love me, even if it's hard for you to say it sometimes. I love you. I'll never be able to say it enough. I want to spend teh rest of my life with you, forever and always. Some people may say it's not the right time to do it, but I think it's the perfect time. I can't wait another second, I want to be able to tell people that you're mine and I'm yours and there's no doubt. I want to buy our first house, see you wearing white and coming down the aisle towards me. I want to carry you over the threshold and every morning see my ring on your finger. I want to wake up to you every morning, and fall asleep to you every night. I can't ever see myself with anyone but you, you're the only one. You're it for me. So..."

By now Aero's chest was tight and her eyes were stinging and her vision was clouded by salt water as it one by one streamed down her face as she tried to regain composure. She had read about these things, and heard about them, but she'd never ever thought it would happen to her. She never pictured herself being in this situation, Fred down on one knee, surrounded by fireflies in the happiest place she'd ever been. And then he opened the box from his pocket and she thought she'd fall over.

"Aeroanna Black, I promise to love you and cherish you forever. Will you do me the highest honor by being my wife?" he said.

Aero gave a watery laugh as she looked from the ring back to Fred. She couldn't imagine herself with anyone else. True, she never thought she'd ever marry. It had always been a way of convenience in her family, for power and blood. But here...here there was a choice. No one was forcing her into anything. Fred wanted her, and she had the power, teh choice to decide. It felt nice...

And she couldn't imagine not having Fred in her life, and now he told her he wanted her forever...

The tears felt hot rolling down her cheeks and her knees still shook. She curled ehr hands tight around his before nodding.

"Yes." she whispered, unable to find her strong voice.

Fred's smile grew ten sizes and her swung her up into his arms as they kissed. After a minute he set her back on her feet, holding her close and slipping something cold onto her left ring finger. Aero looked down and brought her hand up to examine it. It was practically perfectly size, silver with an entriquettely flowered band and an octogonal shaped diamond on it.

She looked up at Fred and smiled, kissing him softly and quickly.

"It's beautiful..." she whispered.

"Got it from my Gramps. Found out we were together and he said go for it. Who knew the old geezer knew what he was talking about?" Fred laughed.

Aero smiled. Fred's grandfather...that would be Arthur's dad since Mr. Prewett is deceased...which meant this ring had belonged to Septimus Weasley who had given it to...Cedrella Black.

She shook her head with a laugh. History always seemed to have a way of repeating itself.

Fred grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers and then the ring before kissing her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, burrowing her into his side and they walked back into the house.

"Alright, you can stop eaves dropping now, you nosey people." he called out.

Aero was confused for a moment before she suddenly understood.

Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen, her eyes red and a tissue dapping at her eyes. Mr. Weasley had his arms wrapped around her, a smile on his face. Bill and Charlie were wolf-whisteling and Ron just clapped with Ginny, while George clapped his brother on the shoulder and swung an arm around each of them.

"Knew you would do it." he said.

"Well, you have been dropping hints all summer." Fred reminded him.

"In hindsight your word choices now make much more sense." Aero agreed.

"I'm so happy for both of you!" Mrs. Weasley wailed, engulfing them in one giant hug.

"Thanks." they chorused, poking the heads out by her shoulders.

"Oh, you're both just so good together! Of course I thought you'd be much older when youd did this-"

"Let's not be a hypocrite-" Bill began.

"-wouldn't want to remind you how old you were when you and dad got married, Mum." Charlie finished.

"That was different! They're not even out of school yet-no offense, dears, I'm incredibly happy to officially welcome Aero into the family- but those were different times! I don't need you two tag-teaming be about something. It was a completely different era."

"Oh, we're all aware of how long ago that era was, Mother dear." Bill teased.

"Are you now? And when will you two be bringing me daughter-in-laws, hm? Just a tad bit embarrassing that your baby brother can catch a fine young woman before either of you can, don't you think?" Mrs. Weasley sniffed.

Bill looked mockingly offended and Charlie had a hand over his heart.

"Boy got his game from us." they chorused.

"No idea what game you're talking about, I've never even heard about any girl for either of you." Ron muttered.

"We've had plenty of women!" Charlie argued.

And on they went, bickering amongst themselves and they all settled into chairs in the living room. Aero cuddled up with Fred, playing with her ring as she watched them. She had always wanted to be a Weasley. They were so warm and funny, and they accepted anyone into the family, like her and Harry and Hermione. Aero had never had that. Her blood family was always so cold, the exact opposite of the one she wanted. And now she had that. She was apart of that family. She had someone, Mrs Weasley, the epitome of a mother, and big brothers, and a little brother and sister, and of course siblings in Neville and Harry and Hermione, and Sirius who was like a father, and Uncle Moony, and Desarie and Shane were like her big brother and sister and not to mention her little niece Selena, and Dumbledore who was practically everyone's grandfather. She had a family, a disfunctional, make-shift, misfit family, but a family non-the less. She smiled and rested her head on her **_Fiance's _**chest.

She couldn't have been happier than she was in that moment...

**o0o00o**

She didn't want to, but she knew she had to. It was unavoidable. It had to be done. She gave Fred a reluctant kiss goodbye and apparrated back to Malfoy Manor. She ended up in her room and she went into her closet. Aero shoved some clothes, the ones she actually liked, into an over teh shoulder bag and had moved on to a few personal belongings when a knock came at the door.

She wasn't going to get it but teh door swung open anyways, revealing Narcissa.

"You were out extremely late tonight, Aeroanna."

"And you waited up for me? How sweet, you didn't have to." Aero replied.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing of you concern, my dear aunt."

"You were out with that boy again, weren't you? When will you stop with this rebellious phase of yours and realize that Vain is teh best arrangement for you?" Narcissa huffed.

"When you realize that an arrangement isn't what I want."

"What on Earth could you see in that blood-traitor?"

"I know it's been a while since you've seen a warm one, but he has a heart."

Narcissa pursed her lips and scowled at her niece.

"We had such high hopes for you, Aeroanna. You are the blood of my dear sister. How could you turn out like this?"

"Free will. Something most people in this family lack."

"We tried so hard to bring you up as a noble woman of the house of Black, like Bella and I."

"I notice the lack of Andromeda in your thoughts."

Narcissa seemed to wince at the name of her second elder sister.

"That woman wandered the same path you are taking now."

Aero rolled her eyes and continued packing.

"What are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Away. I'm leaving."

"To where?"

"I can't say."

Narcissa huffed and threw her arms out, exasperated with the girl. And then she froze.

"What is on your hand?" she said slowly, quietly.

"I believe it is a ring."

And then Aero's cheek was stinging and her eye watered. She raised a hand to her face, feeling the heat, the smacking sound still echoed in the air. Not one to be pushed around Aero returned it with vigor.

Narcissa looked at her niece, shocked.

"Lucius!" she cried.

Aero grabbed her wand and whipped it, the rest of the items speeding into her grundgy bag just as Lucius appearred at the door. He saw Narcissa cradeling her face and tears in her eyes and his wand was pointed at Aero in an instant, a jet of light bursting form it as he did a silent cast.

Aero quickly shielded herself and sent it back and a duel began. He sent a curse her way, singeing her arm and she threw a curse that sent him spiraling into her wall with a crack. Down on the ground he threw a cutting curse at her, slashing her stomach and collar bone. She in turn threw fire at him and burned the ends of his hair. As the duel grew in intesnity Draco entered the room and he and Narcissa cowered in the corner. Aero, being distracted by the barb wire that was now tightly wrapped around her left arm fell to the floor, bleeding and shaking, Lucius standing over her, a malicious grin on his face.

"_Crucio_." he muttered.


	4. Chapter 4 I am not pregnant!

_"Crucio" he muttered._

Aero curled in on herself, her hands pulled at her hair, tangling themselves in, as if attacking her own head would make the pain stop. She felt helpless. She couldn't make it stop, the pain had no external or internal source, just her own uncle. Her eyes were closed as tight as possible, her jaw was set, she was biting her bottom lip so hard it was bleeding down her chin as she held back her cries of pain. She felt like her body was on fire and her head was being drilled into and it wasn't stopping. Lights danced before her eyes, her blood pounded in her ears and her chest was tight to the point where she could barely get a single breath in, all the while her body trembled violently and it continued to try and curl in on itself, shrinking away from the invisible pain.

And when she felt like her brain would explode, like she had had enough and was ready to give up, it stopped. Just like that. The intense pain that had felt so never-ending was gone as if someone had flipped a switch. She couldn't move though, she was frozen, trying to make her brain work, let alone her limbs.

"Have you had enough, Aeroanna?" Lucius sneered.

Aero shuddered on the floor. She tried to gain her bearings, figure out what to do and then she felt her wand tucked into her side. She grasped it firmly in her hand, still trembling, her left arm limp at her side, the barb wire Lucius had conjured was embedded in her skin through her sleeve. She shuddered a breath, her eyes barely open, her vision hazy. She licked her lips from habit and tasted the salty copper taste of blood enter her mouth. Aero used the last bit of energy she had left and muttered "Screw you" so weakly before she silently used accio to bring her bag painfully into her side and apparratted, barely able to focus on where she was heading to, which meant she splinched herself, just above her thigh.

She felt the heat hit her. It was humid. She wobbled into the railing, her legs practically useless, her left arm hanging down by her side as she hunched over. She could feel the sweat on her face already, feel her mind slipping. She forced herself to ring the doorbell.

She heard the shrieking of her Great-Aunt Walburga, heard the shouting of her son before the door swung open, Sirius was there, ready to shout at whichever Order member forgot not to ring the doorbell. And his mouth hung open, his eyes widened. Aero looked up at him through her hair and gave him a fake, weak smile.

"Don't you look happy to see me." she muttered softly.

**SPOV**

"How is she, Moony?" Sirius asked, switching between pacing and looking anxiously over Remus's shoulder.

There were in the parlor room, Aero laid out on the couch, pale, sweaty, bloody and unconcious. Sirius couldn't even stand to think of when he opened teh door and saw her there, all small and trembling, covered in blood. And yet she still smiled at him.

"Nothing life threatening, Sirius. She's extremely exhausted, mainly from blood loss, I believe."

Sirius nodded absently, his hands running through his dark mane of hair as he continued his pacing yet again.

"You're going to pace right through the floor if you keep it up." Remus chided him.

"Well, I'm so sorry, Remus, but I'm a little bit disturbed right now. I mean common, you see her! Look at her! What the hell happened?" Sirius growled, throwing his hands in the air and stopping to glare at the werewolf.

"Sirius, calm down."

"Calm down? Are you ruddy joking, Remus? How can I calm down?"

"Don't you think I'm worried about her too? She may not be my blood, but she is apart of my family, Sirius, you know that. I love her, I do. And it scares me to think of what she's just been through, but really, I have to be calm, rational about this, for her sake. How do you think she'll feel when she sees you freaking out over her? It'll surely scare her to see that you're scared. You have to calm down, for her sake, Sirius." Remus explained.

Sirius shook his head and sunk into the chair, a far off look on his face as he stared at the carpet.

"What couldn've happened, Sirius? Who would do this to her?" Remus asked, staring down at the young girl on the couch, wrapped tightly in a blanket.

It was the hottest summer so far, there was even a drought, and yet she lay there shivering with goosebumps.

"Welcome to the life of a Black, Remus. You're witnessing the aftermath of being disowned." he muttered darkly.

Remus stared, horrified, at his friend.

"This happened..."

"To me? Yes. That was me, on the Potter's couch. That's why I ran away. And it happened to Tonk's mother, Andromeda. And Arthur's mother, Cedrella. The list goes on and on. Why do you think everyone was so happy to get away? I wasn't joking when I complained about my family, Remus. This is them, the darkside of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, the stories that go on behind closed doors would make Dementors have nightmares. No one ever talks about it. We've all tried to leave the memories in the back of our minds. And the others just never thought anything of it. But this is it, Remus. This is my family, the family Aero, my baby cousin, just finally escaped from, and look what she got from it!"

Remus sat on the couch, shocked. He looked from Sirius, remembering his sixteen year old self, and picturing him in Aero's place, Mr. and Mrs. Potter hovering nearby, a horrified onlooked just as he was now. He ran a shaking hand over Aero's sweaty forehead, pushing her lank hair away from her face, smoothing it away. His thumb ran over her chooks, which were normally such a pretty rose color and were now deathly pale. His eyes trailed to the bandage on her left arm, where he had spent nearly two hours debarbing. Sirius had changed her from her bloody clothes to one of his large nightshirts. But Remus had seen the scars from when he himself attacked her, how her body just continued to be scarred and broken.

She had several cuts, a burn...Remus closed his eyes, hunched over her tiny form.

"Moony...I didn't tell you that so you'd feel all sad and depressing afterwards. It's just...this is my family. But I escaped from them, and for awhile at least, my life was the happiest it had ever been. And it will be for Aero too. They're gone, she's not with them anymore, she's safe here with us, now. It's okay, Moony." Sirius whispered from his seat, watching his only living best friend and his tiny little cousin.

"I know...I know...she'll be alright now. I know that." he agreed.

And then they heard the door open and voices enter the room. And they almost choked on air as they heard a low voice growl _"Who the hell is responsible for massacring my student?" _

**APOV**

Aero groaned and shifted her position. She was on something soft, and she felt ice cold. She scruntched her forehead together and finally oepened her eyes. She waited a moment as she adjusted to her surroundings and she recalled what happened. She was at Grimmauld Place. She must've passed out and Sirius put her in the Parlor room. She looked around the room.

"Morning sunshine."

Aero flicked her eyes to see Desarie standing inthe doorway.

She walked into the room, sitting on the chair in front of the couch, running a hand over Aero's forehead.

"I'm fine, Des. How long have I been out?"

"A few hours. It's 6 am now. Remus and Sirius took care of you, got you healed up as best they could. You'll be fine. Everyone's here, going to have an Order meeting. Mad-eyes in a right mood now, of course, after seeing you all unconcious and bloody and what-not. Gave me heartfailure too you know. You looked like death, Aer. What happened?" Desarie asked.

Aero sighed and pointedly looked at her left hand.

"Oh, so that's how it went." Desarie said with a smirk.

"Yeah, Narcissa and I had a spat about it, then she cried for Lucius."

"And?"

"And he used the...cruciatus curse on me."

"Son of Merlin's Bitch did what now?"

Both their heads shot up and saw Mad-eye standing there, a snarl on his face.

"Mad-eye, don't get your knickers in a knot now, it's alright." Aero said.

"Bloody not alright, girlie! What kind of a coward uses that kind of technique? A Death Eater, that's who! Spineless, pathetic little slug, that Lucius Malfoy."

"Mad-eye, calm down, you'll get yourself all riled up now..." Aero soothed.

"Moody, your making Aero tense, she needs to relax." Desarie said.

"What Aero needs is to get up and go to the Order meeting." Aero disagreed.

"Not in your current state, you're not." Desarie protested.

"Don't fuss, Mother."

"Don't you start that."

"Then let me go."

"You're in no shape to go!"

"I don't care!"

"Both of you get your behinds in there before I kick them in there myself. Desarie Hale, she wants to go you let her. Aero Black, you want to go, go. You have as much right to be in there as the rest of us." Mad-eye growled shuffling out of the room, muttering to himself about slugs and getting slug killer from Hagrid.

Desarie sighed exasperatedly and helped Aero up, slinging her right arm around her shoulders and helped her out of the room.

"What are you doing up?" Remus protested.

"We're not having this discussion. She's here, drop it." Mad-eye growled again, sliding a chair out and helping Aero settle in.

She resisted the urge to wince as she shifted her body. In truth she felt like death. She was so sore, her eyes were unfocused, she could barely form a coherent sounding sentence even in her own mind let alone out loud. Her lip was bruising already, her teeth marks still extremely visible. She had a healing cut above one of her eyes and some on her arms, her collar bone and thigh. The singeing on her arm had been numbed as best as possible by Remus, and then her other arm was heavily bandaged, covering her bruising, bleeding, swelling arm with the deep, probably going to scar, cuts in the shape of the barb wire that had been curled around her arm. Lucius had planned to tie her up with the wire, she assumed. She could feel there would be bruises on her body, even her face from when she had hit the floor.

Aero hid her discomfort as best she could and tried to concentrate her energy on the meeting.

But she was slipping, growing bored with the talk of the Ministry using the Daily Prophet to bash and discredit Dumbledore and Harry. She was used to the talk of how the Ministry refused to change its position and how it was vulnerable to infiltration just as the other, innocent people, were.

So instead she looked around the room. It was dimly lit, candles burning in their holders on the wall, casting orange colors around them all, little shadows dancing on the walls. Sirius sat beside her on the right, pouting yet again. Dumbledore probably told him that he was still to remain here. She couldn't really tell now, it was all a low hum of noise to her now. Remus sat across from her, completely engrossed in the conversation. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table, a somber yet intense expression on his face as he talked. Moody was on her left and she could tell, just feel it, the big spinning eye was focused on her. Her cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, sat at the table beside Remus. She had been brought over to the Order by Mad-eye. Desarie and Shane were beside her, though they never stayed long, they had to get back to their two year old, her goddaughter, Selena Lathum. Dedalus Diggle was there, staring wide-eyed at Dumbledore, as usual. Mundungus Fletcher, a man Aero had met plenty of times, a little tiny, grundgy criminal who smoked, drank ,swore, stole and knew everything that went on on the dark streets. Bill and Charlie Weasley were there, though Charlie was staying in Romania trying to get people for foreign allies. Evangeline, Carpathia and Thantos Stict were there, their parents Ebony, Aero's godmother, and her husband Monty were behind them in a corner. Since Ebony had once been a death eater, she was never comfortable in the meetings. Severus Snape, much to Sirius's disgust, was there in the back of the room. Kingsley Shacklebolt, an auror, stood there, taller than most of the others, a blank expression on his face as he listened. Molly and Arthur Weasley were there too.

Aero knew there were several other order members, though she didn't know them all. One who came and went was Sturgis Podmore who was currently on shift.

"Pay attention for five more minutes and then you can zone out, shortstack." she heard Moody say gruffly in her ear.

She gave a slow nod, careful not to move her head too much, and refocused on Dumbledore. He was handing out shifts.

"Arthur, would you mind taking tomorrow night? Shane, I need you working tonight after Sturgis, Bill, you're the next night...Tonks and Desarie, you'll be there in the morning, and the morning after Bill will be Kingsley and..."

"I'll go with Kingsley." Aero spoke.

Dumbledore observed her carefully.

"Aero-" Remus began.

"Uncle Moony, all do respect, I'm fine. I can still flick a wand and mutter a curse. I'm good. Especially by then. Stop worrying."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment before nodding.

"Alright then, Aero and Kingsley. You all know the drill, how shifts work, what to do, look out for. Now, Molly, Arthur, I was wondering if yo uwould mind the family moving in here for the summer, security purposes, not to mention easier access to meetings?"

"Of course, Dumbledore, it'd be no problem." Arthur assured him.

"Good good. And Ebony, Monty, I have the safe house all set up, I am secret Keeper."

"Thank-you, Albus." Monty said with a nod.

"It is no problem, Monty. Now, I believe that is all there is to the meeting tonight. You have your duties. I have a meeting at the Ministry, giving it another shot to convince Cornelius. Oh, and Aeroanna?" Dumbledore said as he turned towards the door.

She looked up and met his eyes.

"Get some rest, child, you took quite a hit, which I will wish to hear about when you are feeling better."

"Sure thing, Professor D."

He gave her a smile before heading out. After that several Order members departed. The Weasleys stayed, as well as Desarie and Shane, Tonks, Kingsley, Mad-eye, Remus, Ebony and Dung. Though Dung was asleep on his chair...

Aero felt extremely uncomfortable and just noticed she was only wearing a long night t-shirt that, judging by the scent, was Sirius's. She slowly lifted herself out of teh chair and padded out of the kitchen back to the parlor where the make-shift hospital bed with the blanket was.

She eased herself down, grunting softly with the effort and then sat down, her gashed leg hanging off the side.

"How do you really feel?" Ebony asked her.

She watched her godmother sit in the chair across the room.

"Sore...tired."

"Not surprised by the actions, I'm assuming."

Aero sighed.

"In all honesty, it was to be expected. It was the traditional disowning 'ceremony' all Blacks got." Aero replied.

"So I was right then? It was Lucius and Narcissa?" Sirius said as he walked in, taking a seat on the couch beside her.

"It was mainly Lucius. My uncle heard dear Cissy's cries when I slapped her, only because she slapped me first, and came to her rescue."

Sirius swore under his breath and turned to the side table with the many glasses and fancy bottles. She heard the clinking of the glass before her turned around and pushed a glass into her hand as he held one of his own.

And then he took a shot, made a face and sighed. Aero nodded and did the same, feeling the firewhiskey burn down her throat and into her chest.

"I did this when it happened to me. But you're better off without them, Aer. And there's no questioning it, you're staying here. Take another shot." Sirius mumbled firmly before taking another shot and passing her one.

"Cowards, the whole lot of 'em. Malfoy better hope I don't lay eyes on him, be the last thing he ever saw, my wand pointed into those beady eyes of his." Mad-eye growled, taking a drink from his flask.

"_Ugh_, and I'm _related _to those people." Tonks shuddered.

"Well, at least you didn't actually have to have anything to do with them." Aero said.

Tonks looked thoughtful and then smiled, nodding.

"True, true."

"At least you're out of there now." Remus said.

Aero grinned, or partly grinned since her mouth still hurt.

"Why did the sudden violent change happen?" Shane asked.

Aero looked down at the floor, spinning her cup between her palms.

"Aer?" Sirius asked.

"I...Fred...Fred and I are..."

"Oh sweet Merlin, Fred got you pregnant!" Sirius shouted.

Aero looked up sharply in surprise and her neck tensed.

"_Ow_...and NO he did not! He proposed!" she shouted.

"Proposed? Why? Why would a seventeen year old get engaged? Unless you are in fact pregnant!"

"I am not bloody pregnant, why is that your first thought? Do I look fat to you or something?" Aero demanded.

"Alright, alright, children, settle down." Mr. Weasley soothed.

Aero glowered at her cousin and Sirius huffed.

"They are engaged, Sirius, I saw it happen. Don't be so pouty about it." Mrs. Weasley chided.

"You knew?" Sirius cried.

"Of course I knew. He's my son!"

"Well she's my cousin, and I didn't know!"

"I didn't even know he was thinking about it until he did it so shut up! I was going to pack my things and move in here when this happened-" Aero shouted, waving at her wounds "- but if that hadn't happened I was on my way straight here to tell you, you big stupid wanker!"

"Why do you have to be engaged...why...you're so young!" Sirius whined.

"I'm not three anymore, I'm seventeen, Siri."

"I know...but you're my baby cousin...why..."

Aero rolled her eyes and inched over, laying her head on his lap and curling into a ball.

Sirius sat there, threading his fingers through her hair absently, a pout on his face and knocking back drinks. Remus pulled the blanket over her and sat on in a chair, picking up a thick book and started to read as the other filed out, shaking their heads and laughing.

And there the three stayed for the rest of the night, together in that room.


	5. Chapter 5 Need a cough drop?

**Alright! Who's going to the HP premiere? I am! Are you guys? Can't wait for it! There's already people out there, I'm like WTF, you people are gunna wait outside for six hours? -_- **

**Oh, and telling me about the movie does NOT count as a review, which I want for this chapter, mkay? Bye-bye. I might update again, there's no way I'm coming home just to sleep for three hours tonight...**

**0oo0o**

Aero was stiff the next morning. She had slept on the couch, refusing to move from her resting place until the next day. Sirius had helped her up the stairs and to the floor below his. There were several doors on the dark floor. Many had gold plates on them with names hidden by dust and Sirius explained they were from previous generations who had stayed in the house. He led her to the end one and creaked the door open, revealing an extremely dark room.

She muttered lumos and searched for candles with Sirius. The room held a queen sized bed, bare of its hangings and covers. There was a large bureau against the side wall, a large window with lattice designing on it overlooking the street. She padded across the dark wood floors, her feet bare. She looked around the room, inspecting it.

"It'll need a decent cleaning, though this room isn't too bad. I've been cleaning it with Remus and Dora since you dropped onto the doorstep. Desarie is bringing by some bed hangings and pillows and such later on." Sirius told her.

Aero nodded and walked to the window. There were children playing in the street, bouncing balls and shouting to each other, their mothers all telling them not to play in the streets.

"So...engaged, huh?" Sirius asked conversationally.

"Big step...I know..."

"Any reason why now?"

Aero sighed and turned to look at him.

"I don't know, honestly. He just...popped the question, and it was romantic, and he was so sweet, and it's not that I don't want to...I can't picture being with anyone else...it's just...look at our family, honestly Sirius, what marriage has ever been for love? Or ended up happily ever after, like in the children stories?" she asked.

Sirius looked thoughtful before turning out of the room and she followed him down the stairs and into the room with the family tapestry.

"Andromeda and Ted worked out pretty well, and we all know that one had to have been love. And...Cedrella and Septimus. Kind of like you and Fred really, now that I think about it... and..."

"And no one else. That's two, Sirius. What chance have I got? It's like...beaten into my DNA, isn't it? Blacks aren't teh type to marry for love, and have families and live the fairytales." Aero groaned, sinking to the floor and resting her elbows on her knees.

Sirius sat down beside her, leaning back on his hands.

"How do you think they all felt? They had less idols to look at than you do. But they did it, they made it work. They put aside their fears of the family and went after what they wanted."

Aero looked up at him.

"I'm not afraid of the family." she mumbled.

"Oh, I think you are. We all are. It's hard not to. And you make good points. It's a rational fear to have, coming from where we do. They marry for power and convenience and blood, not for love. They have kids and use them for whatever personal reasons they have, damaging them and warping their minds, just to repeat the vicious cycle that is the Black family. But you're looking at the ones who were trapped there. Aero, you're free. You gotta look at the ones who got away. Andromeda and Ted had Dora, who turned out to be a very energetic, happy, whole child destined to be an Auror and take a stand for what was right. And Cedrella and Septimus had Arthur and his brothers, and they went on to have nice families, like having your little redheaded friends you love so much. Cedrella gave it a try, she got away, went after what she wanted, and because of that you have a chance to do the same." Sirius told her, bumping their shoulders together.

Aero stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.

"It's hard...getting over what's been in my head for the last seventeen years." she admitted.

"I know it is. But you'll get used to it, pet. You're free now, at least from them. And though I may not like the fact that your all grown up already, and ready for this kind of committment, he loves you. I know that, because if he didn't there's no way you'd still be with him."

Aero looked up, hearing Sirius's sad tone.

"Well, it's the truth isn' it? I'm not too fond of it. You're all grown up. Throughout my time in Azkaban, I had alot of time to think. The last time I had seen you was when yo uwere three. You were so little then, it was hard to see what kind of person you'd turn out to be. And then I get out and you're everything I could've ever hoped you'd be. A gryffindor, a Beater for teh Quidditch team, very beautiful, nice sense of humor, knack for breaking the rules, loyal to the core. You risked your life to save mine, and Harry's and the others. You're managing to lie to the Ministry right under their noses, you don't back down, even to your family, you're taking part in a dangerous organization to protect people and do what's right. The only thing I would've changed was the coldness you grew up around. The damage that had been dealt to you. I'd give anything to take that away from you."

Aero leaned against Sirius, staring at the floor in front of them.

"You may not have been able to be there before, but you're here now, and that's what matters. After all this, after you get cleared of guilt, promise me something..." she whispered.

"Anything."

_"After all this...promise we'll be a proper family. Give me the family I didn't get to have, Sirius..."_

**0o0o00**

Desarie Hale-Lathum was truly one of the most beautiful people Aero had ever seen. She was someone Aero deeply admired, ever since she first met her when she was younger during their over-lapping education. She was beautiful, intelligent, talented and a temper rivaling that of Mrs. Weasley herself.

Aero sat, curled up in a large red armchair as Desarie walked around the room, looking for some records to listen to. Aero bounced her goddaughter, Selena, in her lap as the toddler cooed and spoke in broken sentences.

"Mumma!" she said with a smile.

"What, Lena?" Desarie asked, picking up a record and blowing teh dust off of it, causing her a little coughing spasm.

"'m boooored!" she cried.

"Give me a minute."

"No, now!"

"In a minute."

"Mumma!"

Desarie turned her head to look over her shoulder at the tiny spitting image of herself which was now standing shakily on Aero's knees, a serious pout on her face and her arms crossed over her pink dress.

"Don't give me that look, Lena."

"Mumma." she said seriously.

"I said in a minute."

"I said now." Selena reminded her.

Aero raised an eyebrow at the two eyar old, her lips twitching. The kid had her mother's attitued already.

Desarie raised hers as well.

"I heard you the first time, Selena, but I said in a minute, and my in a minute trumphs your now." Desarie replied cooly.

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh."

Selena scowled rather cutely, she was like a kitten with her anger, and Aero had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the pair.

"Problem, ladies?"

Shane was in the doorway, having just gotten back from an Auror assignment.

While Selena looked like her mother, the golden skin, the shiny golden hair that formed perfect ringlets, she had her dad's big green emerald eyes that he tended to hide under his shaggy chestnut hair.

He grinned and picked up a smiling Selena, resting her on his hip.

"Your daughter is giving me lip." Desarie said.

Selena stuck her tongue out in reply over Shane's shoulder.

"Why is she always my daughter when she misbehaves?" Shane wondered amusedly.

"Because that part is all your DNA, mine if the angelic side."

"Is that so? I'd figured it was my side, I've never seen you have an angelic side. Is it a recessive trait?" Shane teased.

Desarie scowled and rolled her eyes, though Aero was sure she saw the corner of her mouth twitch up.

"How was the mission, Shane?" Aero asked.

"Eh, boring. I went to Japan, tracked down a mysterious goat-napper, the usual." he shrugged.

Aero shook her head with a smile.

"Daddy napped with goats?" Selena asked.

"Wha-no. _No_. I don't sleep with goats." Shane told her.

"You don't like sleepin' with goats?"

"No.."

"Why?"

"Because. I don't like goats."

"Why?"

"Because they eat everything."

"Why?"

"Because they...no. We're not having one of these conversations again..."

"Why?"

Aero left the room and laughed as Shane's exasperated groan came from behind her. She made her way down the hall and into the kitchen where Sirius sat with Remus.

"I don't want to cook." Remus said firmly.

"Well I'm not cooking." Sirius scoffed.

"Why?"

"Because I don't feel like it. You cook. I'm hungry."

"No, it's your house, _Padfoot_, you cook."

"I'm the Head of House, I'm ordering you to cook, _Moony_."

"Exactly, I'm the guest. It would be rude if I cooked, and I'm nothing if not polite."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Polite? Lazy more like."

"You're one to talk. I haven't seen you do anything other than sit around all day!"

"And you saw me sitting down all day because you were sitting down all day yourself, Moony. Don't be a hypocrite."

Aero sat on the counter, swinging her legs and watching the two Marauders bicker back and forth. It was like watching a tennis match.

"Why don't you get Kreacher to do it?" she asked finally.

The two men turned to look at her, like they hadn't even noticed anyone else enter the room.

"I don't want to talk to him." Sirius muttered grumpily.

"And he won't take orders from me." Remus explained, shooting a chiding glance at Sirius's folded arms.

Aero rolled her eyes now and sighed.

"_Kreacher_." She said.

With a startling crack the old wrinkled house-elf appearred before her, dressed in rags, and bowing so low his nose bent against the floor.

"What can Kreacher do for Little Mistress?" Kreacher asked in a gravelly voice.

"Can you make some lunch, Kreacher? I'd really appreciate it." Aero asked.

"Of course, Kreacher lives to serve teh house of Black. What would Little Mistress like?"

Aero leaned forward and smiled sweetly. She had to be nice to Kreacher, even if he did slightly creep her out.

"We have some guests coming over today, I'd wish to give them a meal. Would you mind just getting us some sandwiches or something?"

"Of course. Kreacher will do just that. Is that all?"

"Yes, Kreacher, thank-you."

"Good-day, Little Mistress."

And with a crack Kreacher was gone again.

"I don't understand how you can be so nice." Sirius muttered.

"Probably because I don't have a history with him. You have to be nice though, Sirius, Dumbledore's orders. Kreacher knows too much." Aero reminded him.

"Just because I have to be civil doesn't mean I have to like it."

"All we're asking is you treat him a little better, like perhaps stop kicking him?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. Aero sighed. It was like talking to a child sometimes.

She hopped off the counter and made her way to her room, her hands gripping the railings tightly as she slowly got to her floor. She wasn't supposed to apparrate until she was healed, according to Moony.

She pushed open her door and stepped inside. Aero gently changed into some comfortable clothes, Dung having spilled coffee on her this morning when he stopped by.

Aero put on a loose, long black t-shirt with a shimmering tannish heart on it, extremely ripped black low-ride jeans that hugged her ankles, and a tan yarn beanie-like hat that resembled a cute dog, with brown eyes a nose and two stubby little ears on top. The hat pressed her plain black hair down. She walked to the mirror Tonks had given her and applied make-up, inspecting herself in the mirror.

Her arms were still bandaged, the bandages were changed to clean ones every one in awhile, fromteh burn marks and the barbwire, and that wire was deffinately going to leave an interesting scar... Her cuts had mostly healed, just little red lines here and there. But her face had some nice yellow and purple bruises going on on the side of her face just under her eye to her jaw.

She changed her earrings, putting in a simple industrial rod in her ear under her hat, putting a purple one in her tongue which she clicked against her teeth. She gently dipped onto her bed now, putting on some tan-golden hightop chucks with sparkling spikes all over them. Aero hung her Black family Locket from Sirius around her neck, which she had taken off earlier for her shower, and Fred's shorter necklace that her had given her.

She nodded to herself in the mirror. Fred was coming today with the other Weasleys...he was going to see her face. Really, she hadn't thought much of the whole incident, it still startled her, even though she should've known it would happen. But her uncle, her own uncle, had used the cruciatus curse on her like it was nothing, and neither her aunt of Draco had protested. It was the slightest bit dissapointing and disturbing, not like she would admit that. Sirius never, not ever, talked about what had truly happened when he was disowned, which told her it was bad, and she felt no need to tell even Fred about it either. It was better left unsaid, in the corner of her mind where all Black secrets went, just like Sirius did.

Aero sighed and grabbed her wand, slipping it in her back pocket of her jeans and leaving the room.

"Where have you been?"

She looked around to see Tonks standing at the bottom of the stairs. She had her hair a violent shade of magenta, a Weird sister's T-shirt on and some ripped jeans with dragon-skin boots.

"I was changing, sorry, were you looking for me?" Aero asked.

"Yeah. Mum's all over me about inviting you over, like soon, because you know, I had to tell her about you and Fred and everything...she's being really annoying about it."

"Oh. Well, I don't think Sirius is gunna let me leave this house anytime soon, considering what happened the other night. He's a little paranoid."

Tonks nodded.

"Mum freaked out too. Should've seen her face, she looked like she was gunna go over and hex her own sister. She's totally pissed about the whole thing."

Aero could see the questions behind Tonk's eyes. True, Aero had told them about being under the cruciatus curse, and they had seen the other damage, but she wasn't going into detail.

"The Weasleys will be here soon." Desarie's voice came as the blonde turned the corner.

"Good, good. Kreacher's preparing some food now. The rooms are all set." Aero said.

"Great. Cute hat, by the way, Aer." Desarie said.

Aero grinned, only one side of her mouth lifting up, not wanting to move her bruise. The girls noticed.

"How you feeling?" Desarie asked.

Aero shrugged.

"I've seen better days, but I'll survive." she replied casually.

Desarie nodded, knowing it would do nothing to press the conversation.

They wandered into the living room and sat around, Aero waiting by the window.

After a few minutes she saw them, the familiar red hair, walking towards the building, making sure no one was around.

And then she remembered.

"_Hell_! Don't let them ring the doorbell!" she groaned.

Tonk's eyes widened and she launched towards the front door.

And they heard her swear and knew she had tripped over the troll leg umbrella stand, _yet again_, just as the doorbell rang.

Aero rolled her eyes and winced while Desarie threw her hands over her ears as the wailing reached their ears.

Walburga Black, Sirius's mum, Aero and Tonk's great-aunt, was screeching as if a cat whose tail had been run over by the Knight Bus.

_"Filth! Scum! Besmirching the house of my fathers!" _

Aero got up and ran to the portrait, trying to pulled one side of the curtain over the wailing woman but it just wouldn't go, and her shoulder was throbbing with the force.

She could see the Weasleys entering, all of them looking startled at the sound, and Tonks getting up off the floor, her mouth moving to apologize, but Aero couldn't hear anything over the screaming. And then Sirius was on her other side, yanking and tugging with her, a deepset scowl on his face as they worked to close it. And finally, when the curtains had closed, the noise stopped. Remus and Kingsley were shushing the other portraits Walburga had awakened.

Aero leaned against the wall tiredly and glared at the covered portrait.

"I'm really starting to hate your mum." she muttered.

"Bout time." Sirius grunted.

And then they looked over to see the Weasleys staring at them.

"Uh..." Aero began, feeling her cheeks heat.

"Hopefully you already knew what you were getting into, marrying into this family." Sirius told them.

"Who was _that_?" George asked, shocked.

"My great-Aunt Walburga."

"My mum."

"...You're related to banshees?" Ron gaped.

"Despite the remarkable vocal similarities, I am in fact, no part Banshee, nor is she. It's odd, but I think my mother has gotten shriller in death..." Sirius grumbled, shaking his head to get his shaggy hair out of his face.

Aero looked around and met Fred's eyes.

"What happened to you?" he asked quietly.

"Uhm...had a bit of an incident-" she started before Sirius cut in.

"-I told you about knowing what you were getting into when you marry into this mad gene-pool, boy. That includes the many branches of Black, which happen to involve the Malfoys."

Aero scowled at her cousin, her eye twitching in annoyance.

"That was breaking it ever so gently, Sirius. You have such grace. Like a bull in a china shop."

Sirius grinned arrogantly, an amused look on his face.

"Just merely helping to break the ice, pet."

Aero rolled her eyes.

"You didn't break the ice, Siri, you smashed through it..."

"Pardon me for not wanting to beat around the bush."

"In your world, there's never been a bush to beat around. You're a terribly blunt person, you know."

Sirius rolled his eyes with a huff.

"You're exaggerating. Just accept my help gracefully, woman."

"I will when I recieve any, _man_."

"Stop bickering, I can barely take one of you acting five years old, but two of you will drive me bonkers." Remus interrupted.

"You won't go _bonkers_, Moony-" Sirius grinned.

"- one such as yourself can only go _barking mad_." Aero finished with a smirk.

Remus rolled his eyes now, shaking his head.

"The two of you are truly terrible." he told them.

"We're perfect." Sirius agrued.

"I'm too angelic to be terrible, Uncle Moony."

Remus raised his brows at that and gave them a look.

"I feel so bad for you Remus, having to deal with these two all day and night." Mrs. Weasley laughed.

Aero and Sirius pouted.

As Remus and Sirius hustled everyone into the kitchen for sandwiches, Aero and Fred stayed behind.

"The Malfoys did this to you?" he asked, frowning, a finger running gently over her bruise.

"It's not too bad." she soothed.

"And your arms...what happened?"

She hesitated but explained anyways.

Fred looked furious.

"When?" he asked.

"When..After I left you...I went to go pack to come here..." she said quietly.

Fred swore.

"Bill had said you had been hurt but it was nothing serious and wouldn't say anything more on it, not even where you were..."

"He couldn't! Dumbledore is the secret keeper, he can only tell people where it is."

He was silent for a minute as he looked around, a frown still etched on his face.

"So where is...this...exactly?"

Aero sighed in relief at the change in subject.

"Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It's the home of many generations of Black. Sirius grew up here." she explained.

"Really?" Fred asked.

"Yeah. Old house, no one lived here for years beside the house elf, Kreacher, so excuse the mess, he's a little...off his rocker." she shrugged.

Fred grinned as he put his arm around her.

"You're alright though?" he asked softly.

"Yeah...I'm fine." she assurred him.

He nodded and leaned down, kissing her gently, careful not to hit her bruise.

"Good, because I'd have to go kick some stupid Slytherin arse for hurting my fiancee." he smiled.

"Fiance, that's nice..." she said.

"Mmmhm, it is." he said, kissing her again.

Her hands went to his hair, pulling his face closer and he back her into a wall, pressing up against her and she didn't wince once. All she was focused on was him. It had felt like forever since they had kissed.

His tongue pressed against her lips, asking permission and she opened immediatley, a warmth coming over her and his hands moved to her hips, fingers digging under her shirt slight, running over her skin, maknig her shudder.

"A-hem."

Aero felt Fred pause but she kissed him deeper, her hands tugging on his hair.

"_A-hem_."

Fred went to pull away and she bit his bottom lip, taking it into her mouth and she felt him shudder this time as he fingers played withthe hair at the nape of his neck, brushing lightly against his skin.

"Did you two twits not hear my **_A-hem_**?"

This time Aero allowed Fred to pull back and she leaned against the wall, her eyebrow raised, a smirk on her face.

"I just thought you needed a cough drop, Siri."


	6. Chapter 6 Gotta love the family

The house was relatively quiet that night. Sirius was grumbling away in the living room with Remus. Kingsley was getting his coat from the hall closet. Fred and George were upstairs, working away on the extendable ears. Tonks was teaching Ginny how to figure out of there was a charm on something by chucking dung bombs at it, Desarie was with Selena in the kitchen, trying to get the toddler to eat something other than cookies and Ron was at the dining room table, stuffing his face with a sandwich with Bill.

Aero was leaning against the wall in the dark hallway by the entrance. She was dressed in a cropped leather jacket, a tight magenta colored cami, dark black skinny jeans and her black heeled peep-toe shoes. Her hair was styled so that spiky thick side bangs covered half her face, while the rest was in a thick ponytail, her bangs were completely blood red as well as the underside of her hair.

"Ready to go?" Kingsley asked.

"I've been ready, mate." she replied, walking to the door.

Once they got onto the stoop they apparrated with two loud cracks echoing in the night air and then they appearred in a crowded area of the Ministry. There were people selling newspapers from the Daily Prophet, people admiring the statues as they talked on their breaks.

Aero and Kingsley wove their way through the people to the elevators.

After making their way to the Auror Department they parted ways. Kingsley was going to guard first. She had to get information on the Department, or more information then before anyways. She hopped up onto the corner of her desk and flipped through the piles of paperwork left for her. She mostly dealt with certain things, like most Aurors.

Todd Wiggins, whom she knew to work with Mundungus, had been caught steeling thirteen golden goblets and was on the run, Vlad Mornder refused to show up for a court hearing, Mundungus Fletcher had sold some stolen possessions from Mister Dane Dunkin, a Ministry worker, and was being extremely elusive.

Aero rolled her eyes. She always had little missions concerning Dung. He just didn't get the 'lie low' part of his job description. How many times was she going to have to cover for him?

She hopped off her desk and strode from the room. She got to the apparrating station and with a crack she was at 321 Sterling Lane, London, home of Vlad Mornder who hadn't shown up for his Ministry court hearing. She had to retrieve the criminal.

After knocking on the door the whipped out her wand and broke in. She turned on her Lumos Light and looked around the house. Vlad was wanted for taking some money from work. The house was indeed nice. Why he needed to steal the money was beyond her, he obviously had a decent paycheck.

There were pictures on the fireplace, a blonde woman with two teenagers, a boy and a girl, all smiling at the camera while Vlad stood by them, looking happy. And then beside those pictures...were three urns.

Aero sighed. Based on how old Vlad was, how old he was in the picture, she guessed the family had been killed during the first Wizarding War. She knew his wife was a Muggle-born, so it fit. And after their deaths, he turned to crime, apparrently .

She shook her head. After doing a simple check, she found the house empty, but the money was under the floorboards, all present and accounted for. She put a notice for a new court hearing on the kitchen table, took the money, locked the door and apparrated back to the Ministry.

An hour later, after handing in the money, she was back to writing reports, handling the Sirius Black watch with Kingsley and coutning the hours until her shift was up.

"A muggle man says he saw Black in Paris." Kingsley muttered, marking it on the map.

Aero raised an eyebrow and a smirk fell on her lips as she sipped some coffee.

"Paris, that'd be fun." she commented.

Kingsley nodded in agreement.

"Perk of the job. Traveling to amazing places." he said.

"Whole reason I joined the forces, Kings." Aero joked.

Kingsley smiled and the door opened.

Aero looked away from the map and over her shoulder.

Fudge was there, Percy behind him and...that little pink toad woman whose name she couldn't for the life of her remember.

"I am here just to look up on the work of my employees." Fudge stated.

"More like checking up on you." Kingsley muttered.

Aero frowned grimly. Fudge had tightened his hold on her. Before she practically had free rein, her title as one of the last Blacks giving her unquestionable power. But as of late Fudge deemed her fit to be on his watch list. He kept careful eyes on her. She knew he thought she was in with Dumbledore, and definately in with Harry Potter. And then mark her as the daughter of Death eaters and escaped convict Sirius Black and she held some pretty powerful connections on the opposite side of Fudge's chess board.

"I want an investigation on Dumbledore started up." he said.

"Why on Dumbledore?" An Auror, Darcy Gibbons, asked.

"Because, Gibbons, Dumbledore is trying to undermine me, trying to take control. And with all these tall tales he's telling, just to cause an uproar, I want him investigated. We need to...make sure he's fit for his high positions."

"Are you insinuating that Albus Dumbledore has gone round the bend, Minister?" Kingsley asked.

Fudge raised his chin.

"We must look out for those we protect, Shacklebolt, which means evaluating Albus Dumbledore, to make sure he is sane and not abusing his power. Will that be a...conflict of interests for you, Black?"

"Of course not. He's my Headmaster, Sir, as you know, but it's not personal." Aero lied.

"I certainly hope not. If that's all settled then, start it up immediatley."

With that Fudge promptly turned around, making sure Percy was recording the starting of the investigation as he left.

A sickening giggle caught the rooms attention.

"I expect a thorough investigation, Ms. Black." the pink toad said.

"I hope you're not questioning my work, miss..."

"Delores Umbridge. And no...not your work, my dear, just your...loyalties."

"I've made my loyalties clear, Miss Umbridge."

"Have you? Well, I'll be the judge of that, won't I?" she smiled.

Aero frowned.

"How exactly will you do that?"

"Well...let's just say we'll be seeing alot of each other soon." with a giggle and a wave with a grubby hand she left.

"I believe it is not just Dumbledore under investigation anymore..." Kingsley said quietly.

Aero stared in shock at the now closed door. She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have watch myself then, won't I? Wouldn't want to look suspicous..." she muttered.

This was going to be a complication...

**o00o0o**

Aero heaved a sigh and fell onto her bed. After Kingsley had done his shoft she took one of Mad-eye's invisibility cloaks and creeped around the department of Mysteries. It was just four in the morning now. Kingsley had stayed behind to get some papwork done while she had headed back to Grimmauld Place.

She shook her head, her hair falling from its ponytail and back into glossy black. She pulled her shirt over her head, changing into her sami and shorts. The heat was sweltering in London.

Aero walked to her window and opened it, safe within the protection wards of the Manor. She closed her eyes, leaning on her arms, hoping to catch a breeze. She started when something hot wrapped around her waist and then she looked over her shoulder quickly to see Fred there, a t-shirt and boxers on, a grin on his face.

"What are you doing up?" she asked.

"Heard you come in, love. You swore up a storm when you hit something..."

"Ah, I knocked the end table with my hip, hurt like a bitch." Aero nodded.

His hand moved to cradle her face, his thumb running along her bruise gently.

"You can't make it go away?" he asked quietly.

"No...metamorphs can't change everything, despite how much they'd like to."

"I'm sorry..."

Aero frowned.

"For what? You didn't give it to me."

"No, but I'm the cause."

Aero rolled her eyes.

"Fred, you're the reason I got out. You are the reason I'm happy, that I'm finally free..."

"Really?"

"Yes, you idiot. I thought you knew that." she laughed.

Fred grinned.

"Always nice to hear." he said.

She rolled her eyes and he leaned up, kissing her. She immediatley relaxed her tense muscles, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer.

He licked her lip, careful of the split on her bottom one, and she let him in, Fred exploring every part of her mouth. Her hands fisted in his hair, holding him closer and pulling herself higher.

He grabbed her legs and lifted, and Aero immediatley wrapped them around his waist, his hands on her back now.

She moved her mouth away, nipping and sucking at his neck and Fred walked backwards until his knees hit the bed and he fell onto it.

"We can't..." he whispered.

"Why ever not?"

"This is...Sirius is right upstairs!" he said, his eyes wide.

Aero smirked.

Fred was afraid that what? Sirius would hear them? She wasn't going to not have sex with her fiance just because her overprotective cousin was in the same house.

"So is your mother." she pointed out.

"Even worse!"

"Fred hon, _shush_."

"No...then Sirius will really be a murderer!"

"Then I guess you'll just have to be quiet..." she smirked.

"Aero!" Fred gaped.

"Hey, we have to do this at school, we can do it here."

She laid herself against him while she licked up his neck. She bit his earlobe and smiled when he groaned.

"You and biting, you're like a fiesty animal." he laughed. "Not that I'm complaining."

"I'm very much like...a wolf." she replied with a wink before sitting up so she straddled him and shoved her hands flat against him under his shirt, pulling it up. He moved his arms, helping her get it over and she threw it to the ground.

Her mouth descended, running over his chest, swirling her tongue around a nipple before following to his bellybutton and the v of his hips.

Her fingers curled inside the waist band of his boxers and she could see how painfully hard her was. She gave a soft laugh and tugged them down. And then she was under him, Fred hovering over her.

"Now why, my lady, are you the one still clothed?" he asked.

"I've been waiting for you to do it. I'm just too lazy."

Fred laughed teasingly grinded himself against her, making her hips buck.

"That's not playing fair..." she muttered.

"We never established any rules, Ms. Black. To me, this is fair."

Aero pouted and linked her arms around his neck, bringing his mouth down on hers as her pulled her shorts down and threw them down with his clothes. His hands snaked up her shirt and reluctantly releasing her hold on him, he got it over her head.

Mixed with the heat and their bodies pressed together, they were already panting and sweating.

Fred captured her in another kiss and thrust in, his mouth devouring both their moans. His hips crashed wildly against hers as he picked up speed, her legs locking around his waist.

His hands braced on the side of her head, both of them staring at each other with intensity as they felt themselves coiling, ready to spring. Fred brought his head down and buried it in her neck a bit down as he came, his cry muffled. Aero arched and tensed, her eyes now shut tightly as the wave of pleasure passed.

They collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily and sweating.

"Fred, I love you and all, but it's so damn hot, you're suffocating me." Aero grumbled.

"Sorry." He grunted as he pushed himself to the side.

Aero blindly moved her hand over her nightstand until she found her wand. With a flick and a silent spell the windows closed and locked and a small ball of light appeared in the corner of the room and strong, cooling waves of wind crashed over the room.

"Ah, you made a breeze. Brialliant." Fred said, his face buried in the pillow as he pulled the thin sheet around them and wrapped his arms around Aero's waist.

"Mhmmm." she sighed, her eyes closed.

They had been asleep for a few hours. When they woke up it was eight o'clock in the morning. But their awakening...

"What the hell is going on in here!"

Aero's eyes snapped open, startled, and turned to see Sirius standing at the door.

"What?" she snapped.

"What do you mean what? You're naked, in bed, with a guy, in my house!"

"I'm tired. I hope there's a point to this rude wake-up call." she sighed, running a hand through her hair with a yawn as her other one held up her sheet around her chest.

Aero felt Fred stir beside her.

"Wh-AERO! Young lady, there is a boy in your BED!" Sirius raged.

Aero raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yes Sirius, myself, a legal adult woman, is indeed in bed with her fiance. I had no idea that was such a crime. Will I be getting your old cell?" she asked.

Sirius was turning red.

"Padfoot...let's talk downstairs, in our _indoor voices_, like cival, level headed adults, and I'll explain things to you." Remus said, appearring behind Sirius, a hand on his shoulder, an exasperated look on his face.

Remus turned to face the room, his cheeks red.

"My er...apologies for the interruption." he said.

"No problem, Uncle Moony." Aero said in a sing-song voice, Fred groaning something in garble English beside her.

Remus nodded, embarressed, and closed the door. Aero could still hear them whispering furiously at each other down the hall.

"What was that 'bout?" Fred grumbled.

"Nothing, love, nothing. Go back to sleep..."

"Alrigh' if you say so..."

Aero sighed and shook her head, a smile on her face.

"Gotta love the family..." she whispered.

**Alright. There's some Frero for you. Oh, and incase I don't post again before the holidays, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Luvs y'all. :* **

**(Totally reccomend the new HP movie by the way, totally worth seeing.)**


	7. Chapter 7 family tree

Their boots clicked on the cobblestones as they walked down a street in Morgana's Hollow. It was hot as hell outside and Tonks wouldn't stop voicing that fact, as if Aero would forget it.

"I know it's hot! I'm out here with you. So stop saying it." Aero groaned.

"But it is! Why's it have to be so damn hot!" Tonks cried.

"Probably has something to do with that **_drought_**."

Tonks rolled her eyes.

"I know _that_..."

"Well than stop asking me questions that you already know the answer to."

They stopped talking when they came to an old Victorian styled dark house with gray trimmings.

"She didn't move too far from the family style, did she?" Aero muttered, noticing the black fence.

Granted most houses in Morgana Hollow were dark and old Victorians, but still...**Tonks**, with her too bright hair, came from _this _house? It seemed highly impossible...

"Mum? We're here!" Tonks cried into the house.

"Nymphadora, what have I told you about shouting in the house?"

A woman came into view, tall and thin, and Aero's heart clenched and went into panic-overtime, seeing how much Andromeda looked like her mother.

But while Bellatrix had a crazed look and dark hair and eyes, Andromeda was like a warmer version of her, with deep brown eyes and brown hair.

"Aeroanna, I'm so delighted to see you again dear, you've grown so much." Andreomda smiled, engulfing her only niece in a hug.

"It's nice to see you again as well, Aunt Dromeda. How's Uncle Ted?" Aero asked.

"Oh fine, fine. Messy as ever. He'll be home in a few, just went out to get some Owl feed. Nymphadora, why don't you go and show Aeroanna around the house."

"Yes mum..." Tonks sighed, rolling her eyes and walking up the stairs.

"Honestly...I tell her not to call me that...still does it...bloody woman..." Tonks muttered under her breath.

Aero smiled again and took in the house. There were golden picture frames on the wall as they walked up the stairs, showing Tonks through the years.

"And this is my room, you're welcome to take a look around." Tonks said, using her arm to gesture to the room.

It was a bright purple color with white trimmings and a window overlooking the back yard. Aero looked at the few books on the shelf on the wall, noticing a large one labeled photo album.

"I can't believe you've never been here before...we're family, I can't believe since we've met you haven't been here." Tonks muttered as she lay face down on her bed.

"Not entirely true, I came here once with Sirius back during the first war, to be introduced to your mother, I don't recall if you were home, I was young..." Aero said as she flipped the book open.

"Huh...so you really couldn't remember any of your past before the dementors?"

"Not a thing. My first memories were of living at the Malfoy house. But now I remember everything...like I get a memory every now and then, bursting into my head and it's like I'm reliving it, but I've got all the memories back..."

"...Weird."

Aero nodded and examined the pictures waving up at her.

There were some of Andromeda and Ted as teenagers, probably after she was disowned. Some of baby Tonks with vibrant red hair. Some of Tonks and Desarie, some of Tonks and Bill and Charlie when they were in school, Andromeda and Sirius, when they were young. Aero had to take a deep, steadying breath. There was an old one, of three girls. Narcissa lay gracefully on an old antique couch, her blonde hair pinned up, a sour expression on her face. Andromeda stood off the the side, on one of the arms, Her hair in ringlets down her back, a distant expression on her face. And then the one that starred in Aero's nightmares...Bellatrix, her mother, sat on the other arm, dressed in black, her hair down her back, thin bangs hanging in her eyes, her lips curled and her eyes staring intensely at the camera.

"You alright? Lookin a little pale over there..." Tonks asked.

"Fine, fine. Sorry..." Aero brushed off, closing teh book and putting it back just as a loud booming voice sounded from downstairs.

_"Honey I'm home!"_

Tonks' face lit up.

"Daddy!" she shouted and grabbed Aero's hand before yanking her out the door.

Aero followed after her cousin. That night she had an interesting dinner with her family, her actual family...and it was nice, for once.

**_o00o0o_**

Fred walked around the dark house. It was a little creepy, if he was honest. It was probably why Sirius was so bitter, he didn't like being here himself. But it was interesting, to say the least, to get a glimpse of the Black family. Aero never spoke much of her family, so he felt like he was getting a once in a lifetime opportunity into her life, that which she kept so locked up.

He would look at the many portraits of her ancestors on the wall, the house-elf heads. The antiques, the dark magic objects, the gothic theme to the house. He had always known her life had been dark, but this was like a visual of it. He tried very hard to imagine the life so different from his own, where he would be scared to walk through the front door, where he'd hide out in his room, get disowned, beaten, like she, and probably Sirius, had.

It angered him, to say the least. He could tell that Sirius's life had been hard, and that was why he acted the way he did now. He was in pain, suffering in silence as best he could. Sirius could level with Aero on a way that Fred couldn't, and for that he was jealous, though glad she had someone, even if not him, who could understand. Aero suffered in silence, alone. She preferred it that way, carrying burdens so that others would not. She was selfless in that way.

Fred walked into a darker room, flicking his wand and lighting the candle chandelier. He looked around, staring at the wall...it was...a family tree? Noble and Ancient House of Black...Toujurs Pur. He skimmed the lines, finding several burn marks. He assumed it meant they were, what Aero called, disowned.

He found his grandmother, just her name, under a dark scorch mark. Cedrella Black...she had sisters, Callidora who apparrently married a Longbottom (Was he related to Neville?) and Charis, who married...a Crouch? Really, he was related to the Crouchs? Ew.

He followed the lines down. He really was related to Aero, something like 6th cousins...

Walburga, Sirius's mum, married her second cousin Orion...Sirius had a little brother? Oh, and he was dead, young too. Fred winced sympathetically.

And...wait, if Sirius, despite his nice giant burn mark, was on here, then Aero, his second cousin, wouldn't be far. He could learn about her family...

Fred skimmed his finger down the branches. Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier, her grandparents.

Fred smiled. Finally. Information. Maybe he could help her with her past. Surely her parents weren't that bad...what could they have done?

Narcissa Black, Lucius Malfoy, connected to Draco. Alright, he found her aunt. Looks like Narcissa is the youngest. A burned out mark, Andromeda. So, if Tonks was her cousin, then that must be her mother... which left the last child as Aero's mother...

Fred froze. He knew that name...during the war, the names of Deatheaters had become house-hold names, said in fear. This one...these ones he heard many times, for horrible, horrible crimes.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus LeStrange, murderers, Death Eaters...they were Aero's parents...and she had never told him...

**Sorry It's so short, I'll update Friday after school. Swear. **


	8. Chapter 8 Messes galore

Aero walked in the front door of Grimmauld Place, immediatley eveloped by the shadows. She walked down the hall to the stairs and made her way to her room. She kicked the door closed and sighed, pulling her jacket off and throwing it on a nearby chair, running a hand tiredly through her hair. Tonks was energetic, to say the least. She had Aero running all over the house before and after dinner.

"We need to talk."

Aero visibly jumped as she whipped around, growing a flame on a candle and noticing Fred, sitting on her bed, stiff, his face grim. Instantly she knew something was wrong.

"Fred..?" she asked hesitantly.

He was silent, just staring at her. But she knew that look. She got it all the time, from several different people, even at Malfoy Manor...but she'd never gotten it from Fred, not even during their break-up. That had just been hurt. This was..._accussing_.

Aero stood awkwardly by the door, shifting anxiously on her feet, her arms folded tightly against her chest. Her mind raced, going over everything that had happened recently. Had she done something wrong? Forgotten the anniversary, a birthday, a date? No...so what had made him so angry at her?

"Are you going to just sit and glare at me, or talk? Because honestly, I'm starting feel the holes burning through my forehead, they're making me quite uncomfortable." Aero said, a finger nail digging into her arm.

"You didn't tell me."

Aero frowned.

"What didn't I tell you, exactly?" she asked.

"I was wandering around this place today, while you were gone. Wanna know what I found?" he asked.

Aero raised an eyebrow, getting twitchy at this whole conversation.

"That would be most helpful."

"The family tree, you neglected to tell me was there."

Aero froze her shifting for a split second, practically unnoticable, before rocking back and forth slowly again, her face a look of cool indiffference, while her heart went into overdrive. He couldn't have found it yet. It had always been a possibility, with him being here, that someone would, but...she had hoped they'd all leave that blasted room alone. She wasn't nearly ready to talk about her heritage.

"You're angry over a family tree? Why, you feel left out when you couldn't find your name? S'alright, quite a few relatives aren't on there, you could even start a club..."

Fred rose from the bed slowly.

"You think it's funny, that I found about about your family, on my own? You joke now, knowing that I finally know the truth." He said quietly.

Aero grinded her teeth together. A second fingernail went into her arm now. Methods such as this had always somehow helped her to keep her anger in check.

"Well, if you didn't want to know my secrets, you shouldn't have gone snooping around the house of my ancestors. What did you expect to find? My parents are actually fairies?"

This wasn't going well...

"I expected you to tell me."

Aero rolled her eyes. She felt like she was being attacked, like she did something wrong. Surely there were other people who didn't tell their loved ones of their hideous pasts, not completely? Why should she have to tell everyone that which haunts her? How is that fair? Why should she have to explain herself to him? To anyone? She had every right to keep her secrets!

"What do you want me to say, Fred? I told you I had secrets. I told you I hated my parents. Now you know why. _Good for you_." She said, her eyes hard, cold.

Fred walked forward. She felt like she was being preyed on. Being backed into a corner. Why didn't he just stop? Why did he keep going? Why did he have to know everything...?

"I think the fact that your parents are cold blooded mass murderers is something I should know." He snapped.

"Well, I didn't ask what you thought on the matter, did I? I know what they are, that's that. Nothing I can do about it."

Another nail pushed into her skin.

Fred's jaw tightened, his fists clenched and unclenched by his sides.

"You're parents kill people, torture people, for a living. This guy my family is risking their lives to take down, is their boss! You're the blood of them! For all I know, you're parents could've been the ones to be there to kill my uncles Fabian and Gideon. And yet, you conveniently forgot to mention that little fact of yourself, didn't you?" He said coldly, his laugh humorless.

Aero felt like she was getting another beating all over again. He had said once that he'd be understanding towards her secrets, he understood she couldn't tell him everything. But this...this was not understanding.

"Are you comparing me to them, just because of some blood?" she asked.

"You're their **_daughter_**!"

"Oh no, really? I had no idea. Thank you for clearing that up for me, Weasley. Everything just makes sense now. I'm their daughter, the one they happily left. Well, why don't I just go put my deatheater uniform on now and go terrorize some muggles. Must be the family business, according to you."

"How could you not tell me this!" he shouted.

"Because this is how you're reacting! This is how everyone always reacts! We had something good for awhile, why the hell would I spoil that!" she cried.

"So you were just going to lie to me then? We're getting married! And you weren't going to tell me? I don't even know who you are right now!"

"I'm the girl you supposedly love, remember that? But I guess that was a lie. You can't love someone you don't know, right?" she sneered.

"I don't know you. I don't...oh WAIT. I do! You, Aero, are the daughter of Deatheater Scum. You're a liar. What else are you hiding? Hm? Let me guess, you're a spy, like Pettigrew, right? You're gunna go an deliver everyone to your parent's master with little bows on top, right? I mean, that is what your family does, doesn't it? Lies, tortures, manipulates. I know the Blacks, I thought you were different, but I can see now you're not. You've just got everyone fooled, haven't you? Even Dumbledore. You must be good." He all but growled at her.

Aero threw her head back and let out a sarcastic bark of laughter, eerily similar to that of Sirius's and threw her arms in the air, a certain crazed look in her moist eyes that didn't settle with Fred, a curl to her lip.

"Aw, you caught me, Freddy. I'm just the big bad death eater in disguise. Good job, you wanker, you found me out. I'm secretly a spy, taking over for my parents, carrying on the family name. All those times I put myself in danger just to benefit their enemy, that was all a rouse. The times I got hurt, almost died, for Harry, they were just for show. And the beatings I recieved at home every time I went home for a summer holiday because I was dating you, that was all just to get in your pants, because Weasley, you're just that good, aren't you? And becoming an Auror, working for Dumbledore? Puh-lease, that's nothing. I mean, what's the risk of a life-sentence in Azkaban if the Ministry found out I was helping him, right? I'd get to see Mummy and Daddy again, that'd be a real treat. So yeah, Fred, you found me out. I'm a lier, a horrible lier. I completely was never going to tell you. I was going to marry you, and start a life with you, and then just kill everyone. _Obviously_." she snarled, her eyes glinting in the shadows.

She was shaking, a curl to her lip made her look almost sinister. Aero didn't know what had been going on at first, but then she realized...she was forcusing what Sirius liked to call their "inner-black". All Blacks turned out to be crazy, she was just channeling her own form of it. Like a defense mechanism she had recently discovered.

Her chest heaved as she trembled with her rage. She spoke slowly, deliberatley.

"Get. **_Out_**."

Fred didn't move, just glared at her.

"I said get out now!" she screamed, throwing her hand, which still grasped her wand out and the door flew open and she launched him out the door, him body smacking hard against the wall.

She locked the door, gripping the handle, and tried to steady her breathing.

Aero closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against the wooden door. She slowly made her way to the window, opening it. She created the wind ball again and walked to her large dresser. On the bottom were several bottles. She reached a hand in and pulled out teh strongest one, before sitting in a dark corner of the room, curling her knees to her chest and taking a swig of the burning firewhiskey.

Aero stared blankly at the floor in front of her as she continued to drink. Honestly, she had no idea what was wrong with her. She may have overreacted, but she didn't feel like it. She had felt attacked and hurt. She lashed out. But so had he. It was his fault. He started this... not her. She was simply defending herself.

She took another swig leaned her head back against the wall. She had no idea how much time had passed when she heard the door knob jiggle.

The girl creacked an eye open, peering at the door that seemed so far away from her through her hazy vision and hair that fell in her face. She lifted a arm and brought the half-full bottle of Scotch to her lips almost instinctively, her foot knocking gently against the empty bottle of Firewhiskey that scraped across the wooden floor.

She heard the lock click and listened with her eyes closed, curled up in a dark corner, her head lolled to the side and arms hanging down as footsteps approached her.

"Aero?"

She grunted quietly in reply.

"You were having a drinking party and didn't invite me? How selfish."

She merely lifted the bottle of scotch high in the air and felt it taken from her hand. Someone slumped against the wall beside her with a grunt and sighed. Aero heard the drink swish in the bottle as her companion in the darkness drank.

"So..."

"Not talkin' bout my troubles, Sirius..." she whispered.

"Course not, 'course not. We're not going to talk about that. We'll just...drink. I could use a drink, but drinkings never fun alone." he agreed.

"Well, that's what I'm here for. Welcome to Grimmauld Place's new personal bar, my friend." she said hoarsley, waving a hand arily in the dark in front of her.

She raised her wand and another bottle flew into her awaiting hand and felt the rum run down her throat.

They sat in silence, both drinking their sorrows away into the oblivion, for the time being at least.

"We're...we're pretty...messed up, aren't we?" Aero muttered.

" Thank-you, Captain Obvious."

"Anytime, Sargent Sarcasm..."

Sirius chuckled quietly before taking yet another drink.

"You can hold your liquor pretty damn well, cuz. You're buzzed now, but..."

Aero grinned and gave a dark laugh.

"I lived with the Malfoys. They always did wonder where the rum always went..." she said.

Sirius nodded his head.

"We're two of the same." he told her.

"Ugh, we're rather pathetic."

"Yes, but we've more than earned the right."

"Hear, hear."

They clinked their bottles together noisely, missing the first few times.

"So...so I heard you both screeching...what was it like for you, growin up with those...those blonde idiots?" Sirius wondered, staring hard into his bottle, obviously a little less than sober.

"Ugh...horrible? Dunno...strict people they are, I'll tell you that. And then...when Fred and I-" Aero stopped to hiccup "- started dating, I'd go home for holidays, and they'd tell me to break up with him, and I'd foolishly say no, and then..." hiccup " they'd, well Lucy...lucky...ducky...LUCIUS! Yeah him, he'd smack me around, and then...uhhh...take my wand and lock me in my room or something, all bit fuzzy right now..." Aero said, squinting her eyes as she tried to form coherent thougths.

"Like, like my life. But...you're here now...chiz good...I won't...won't let 'em get ya...no more..." Sirius groaned, swishing his bottle in the air.

"Chiz?" Aero asked, picking herself up enough to raise her head from the floor which she'd just toppled over to.

"Chiz...it's a word."

"No...no it isn't."

"Yeah it is!"

"No...no Siri,...s'not." Aero disagreed, shaking her heard.

"What on earth are you two doing in here?"

Aero peered into the darkness.

"Sirius, we got ghosts in the house..." Aero whispered.

"No, Aero, it's Remus."

Aero raised her eye brows in surprise.

"Uncle Moony! Choo doin here?" she asked happily.

"I came to find you...and apparrently I did. Sirius, you encouraged this drinking?" Remus chided.

"DID NOT! Kid was workin on it, Moony...not my fault." Sirius protested.

She heard Remus sigh before he walked and knealt in front of her.

"Aero...I heard you and Fred-"

Aero put a finger to his mouth and made an exaggerated 'shhhing' sound, shaking her head, making her hair whip around her.

"No, no noooooo. M'not talkin bout that shiny little toss pot. Nope, nope, nope. No you-know-him zone." she said.

Remus grabbed her hand gently and pulled the bottle from her other hand. He grabbed her up in his arms, despite her weak protests, and brought her to her bed. He worked the thin sheet over her and put her wand on the table. She heard him make the empty bottles disappear and then Sirius's groaned in annoyance. She heard shuffling, Unlce Moony was probably dragging Sirius to his bed too.

"Get some sleep, Aerie, I'll see you when you wake up." he said quietly before closing the door, Sirius's muffled words echoing down the hall.

Aero sighed and rolled onto her side, finally falling into a peaceful blackness.


	9. Chapter 9 The wonders of rum

She groaned, putting a hand on her forehead, her eyes clenched shut. Aero's head was pounding, she could even hear the blood rushing in her ears. She turned her head to the side, staring hazily at the window. There was sunlight, which meant she should get up. Rolling her legs off the side of the bed, she eased herself off, running a hand through her messy, tangled hair.

Stumbling her way to her dresser, she changed into some jeans, boots and t-shirt, brushed her hair, fixed her make-up and headed downstairs.

"Morning!" Desarie chirped as the younger girl walked into the kitchen.

Aero flinched.

"Shhh, Des. Hang-over, like a wicked one..." Aero whispered pathetically, placing herself down on a seat, resting her head on her folded arms.

"Ah, yeah, heard that little screaming match last night, well done. You two really have a handle on this relationship thing."

Aero picked her head up enough to glare at the blonde who casually drank her morning coffee.

"Shut-up." she muttered dryly.

"You two going to talk this out?"

"I dunno...I can barely see straight let alone have a pain in the ass conversation with him."

"So...you two fight, you get drunk, and then get Sirius drunk...and then you have to go into work?" Desarie clarified.

Aero tensed.

"Bullocks, you're right, I have work..." she cried into her arms.

Desarie sighed and shook her head.

"You look like goblin dung." she commented.

"Thank-you very much, you tactful wench."

Desarie laughed and leaned forward.

"S' what you get for thinking you can get piss drunk and the rest of the world will wait for you to feel sober again, princess. Deal with it. C'mon, you have work to do."

"No...I'll write Fudge and tell him I'm ill." Aero said.

"No you will not. You're the one who got drunk. Take responsibility, Aero."

Aero groaned at the sound of Remus' voice.

She felt a gentle hand on her back.

"I know you don't want to, and I understand why you drank yourself silly last night, but you have responsibilities, Aero. You have to keep an eye on the Ministry for Dumbledore." Remus soothed.

"Don't make me go, Uncle Moony, I don't feel _goooood_..." Aero whined.

Remus chuckled.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry, but you have to. Next time you want to get drunk, pick a time you don't have to work." he advised.

"I didn't actually plan that, you know..."

"I know. Go to work, occupy yourself, and when you get back everything will have calmed down some."

Aero heaved a heavy sigh.

"Fine...but if I end up throttling someone there, it's your fault."

Desarie and Remus grinned.

"Sure, sure." he said.

**0o00o**

Aero yawned as she came through the front door of Grimmauld Place, hanging her coat on a hook in the hall and yawned, rubbing a finger against her temple, hoping her migraine would just go away. However, it didn't seem like it was going to go away anytime soon...

Work was frustrating. Umbridge, much to Aero's annoyance, kept an annoyingly close watch on her, standing there in too bright pink, her sickening giggle and unsettling smile...watching her every movement. Aero shuddered and grimaced. Merlin, she hated that woman.

She trudged down the stairs an into the kitchen, pausing halfway through the door.

"I wasn't aware we were having a meeting tonight." she said.

"We're not, not really. We are later, but as of now, we're just waiting for dinner." Remus explained.

Aero nodded, her face impassive, expertly keeping her line of vision away from the ginger at the end of the table, instead picking a seat by Mundungus and Sirius.

"How's it goin', Dung?" she asked casually.

"Ah, alrigh' alrigh'. Really gotta thank ya, kid, for gettin' me outta tha' tight spot with the Ministry. Bloody man was gunna send me to court if it wasn' for ya. Merlin knows that'd be bad for my business, if word got out 'bout tha'" Dung babbled happily.

"Like I said, I'll do what I can for you Dung, but try to make it a little easier for me, Hm? Don't get caught." Aero said with a wryly smile.

Dung brightened and nodded vigorously. It was obvious, how he always agreed with Sirius and especially Aero during meetings, that he was grateful for the inside help from the Black. Not like she trusted him, but he was a lively character, so she helped him out, not to mention Dumbledore needed him, so her favoritism for the criminal was beneficial to the order...

"Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes- Mundungus Fletcher, what have I told you about smoking in the kitchen!" Molly shrieked.

"Righ' you are, Molly, sorry." Dung said with a smile, dabbing his cigarette on the table leg.

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes.

"Uhm...why don't we go out into the parlor, while we wait...?" Remus asked suddenly.

"Why?" Tonks asked.

"I think it's a good idea, Fred dear, would you mind setting the table? And Aero darling, mind the stew?" Mrs. Weasley asked before quickly ushering everyone out.

It was silent for a few moments.

"Your mother, she's a devious one." Aero commented.

"I know, gotta watch out for that woman." Fred agreed.

They both sat at the table, staring anywhere but each other.

"They're probably listening on the other side of the door." Fred noted.

"Most likely. Lord knows you had to get your lack of respect for privacy from somewhere."

Fred finally looked at her then. Aero sighed, rolling her head around before standing up. Fred's eyes followed her wearily as she walked around the table and sat in the chair beside him.

"I'm...I'm sorry, alright? I know I should've told you, and I know we're supposed to be honest with each other now...and yeah, it is kind of a big secret, something you should've known awhile ago before getting so involved with me, it's pretty important-" Aero said before she stopped mid-sentence, a hand on hers on the table.

"Are you seriously thinking that because of your parents...that because your parents are who they are that I'd what? Dump you? Leave you like yesturday's Prophet?" Fred asked, his eyebrows raised.

Aero frowned.

"Well...you said before-"

"I know what I said before. I'm so sorry about that, I am. You know how I get...I say stupid things when I'm angry. I don't mean them...I say stupid things, you have a tendency to believe them. It's a vicious cycle we have going on..."

"So...everything you said before...?"

"I wish you would've told me. I think it's something I should know. But after I cooled off... I realized that there must've, like the Sirius secret, been a good reason for why you didn't tell me. I get that your parents probably weren't the greatest people, and from the stories I've heard, probably have scarred you more than you'd like to admit. But you can trust me with these things. Remember what I told you? Whatever shit happens, I'm your constant. I'm not going anywhere, love, so deal with it." He said, a grin on his face.

Aero felt herself smile slightly. She felt better, knowing Fred wasn't mad, that he wasn't going to leave.

"Aero...I get your all, dark and twisty inside-" Aero made a face at that " - but I love you, despite that. I want you to be able to trust me with that stuff."

"I know...I do trust you. It's just...it's already messed me up, why should you have to face my demons? They're not yours to bear." she said.

Fred pulled her closer so her head leaned on his shoulder.

"You know, I love you. And since I love you, your fears, your dreams, your demons, they become mine as well. We can face your demons, _together_." he said.

Aero bit her lip. Fred had no idea what he was saying, but the sentiment was touching enough.

"Alright, yeah..."

Fred laughed at her answer.

"We're good again then?" he asked.

"Yeah. We're so good."

"We're gonna get better at this."

"Merlin, I hope so. These battles are a pain in the ass."

"From what I hear, rum helps."

Aero looked at him, glaring, while he just shrugged innocently.

"Next time you get a hang over, I'm waking you up by banging some pots and pans in your ear." she threatened.

"But that would give me head pains!"

_"I hear rum helps."_ she muttered, walking over to check the stew.

**I know it's short. I'll post again tomorrow sometime.**


	10. Chapter 10 Woman on the warpath

Aero sat on the couch in the parlor, flipping through a Wicked Woman's magazine, looking at the wedding dresses. Mrs. Weasley seemed so think that she had to get started on planning the wedding and found it extremely odd that Aero had never even really imagined having a big white wedding as a little girl, like most did. Truthfully, Aero had never considered getting married, so why would she imagine something she thought she'd never have?

"You should go with something more traditional, I think it would fit you...yes, yes. Traditional, just look at these 'modern' models, they've just got no sense whatsoever. I mean, sequince? Flashing? Are we going to the circus?" Mrs. Weasley muttered, flipping through her own magazine, frowning at some of the images.

Aero shook her head and rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. Really, Mrs. Weasley seemed more into this wedding than she did herself, and she was the _bride_.

"You know dear, you should really apply for some more time off. This was the only night free this week so far. You're going to run yourself into the ground if you keep this up."

"Not necessary. She could not sleep for a week, but get her attention and she's as alert as if she were on an all caffeine diet." Mad-eye grumbled as he stomped into the room.

"Doesn't mean that she should be worked so much. She's still just a teenager, Alastor. She needs her rest." Mrs. Weasley protested.

"I'm not saying she doesn't deserve a little shut eye, but I need her running rounds."

"She can run rounds after she's had a decent meal and a good night's sleep and not a second sooner."

"I know her limits, I trained her to have high ones. She's fine."

"That's not the point, Alastor."

"I think the point is you're treating her like a child, and she's not, Molly."

"She's still growing."

"I doubt shortstack over there is getting any taller."

Aero looked up briefly to glare at her mentor.

"I thought you were supposed to be on Harry duty tonight." she muttered, flipping to the next page.

"Changed schedule with Mundungus." Mad-eye replied.

"Mundungus is watching Harry? Are you sure that's a good idea? He's not very...reliable." Mrs. Weasley said, disapproval apparrent in her tone.

"He is a member of the Order, he needs to do his share of the work."

"The man's a criminal. And while we're on the subject, I hear you're covering up for him at work." Mrs. Weasley said, looking at Aero who simply shrugged in reply.

"He won't be any help to the Order if he's in legal trouble...or more than he's normally in anyways. But yes, I do watch out for Dung. Besides, that way the little man owes me a few. It's always good to gave someone in your debt." Aero said.

"Right you are. Never know when you'll need a favor." Mad-eye agreed. "Taught you well, I did."

Aero rolled her eyes again. Sirius strolled into the room, his regular scowl on his face. He was such a pouty man lately. He let himself fall over the arm of the couch and his head landed in Aero's lap, the girl lifting her magazine securely over her head as she stared down at him questioningly.

"I'm bored." He replied irritably.

"Boo hoo for you."

"There's nothing to do."

"What're you? Five? Go ask Selena if you can play with her blocks."

Sirius frowned up at her.

"You're lucky you get to do stuff." He grumbled.

"You could clean. This place is filthy."

"That's Kreature's job."

"Yes, he's doing such a great job. Perhaps you give the little bugger a hand." Aero suggested.

"Why don't you?" Sirius argued.

"Because, I have things to do."

"Ah yes, miss Auror. I'm so honored you could give me some spare time in your busy busy day." he snapped.

Aero sighed in exasperation. Lately, Sirius had discovered the rather unpleasant disease known as Cabin Fever. Side effects were so far recognized as irritability and obnoxiousness.

"Just because you're under house arrest, don't snap at me. My life's no walk in the park either." she said dryly.

"Oh, poor baby. Getting fresh air and talking to actual human beings must just be so hard for you. I don't know how you do it." He said sarcastically.

"Well you might, if you didn't bite everyone's head off, they're not bat's, Ozzy." she muttered.

Sirius opened his mouth to reply but Remus came in then and threw a cushion at Sirius's head.

"Stop arguing, you're becoming insufferable, Padfoot." he said cooly.

"She started it."

"Did not!"

"Don't deny the truth, deary. It's a bad habit."

Aero huffed and grabbed the pillow, shoving it down on Sirius's face and leaning her weight on it as Sirius squirmed.

"Sometimes I swear, it's like you're the same person." Remus sighed, running a hand over his face.

There was a loud crack and Aero flinched, sending Sirius tumbling to the floor in a heap, cursing.

Arthur appearred in the doorway then, pale, his eyes wide. Immediatley Mad-eye, Remus and Aero were standing, though Aero had to strategically place her feet so as not to step on her cousin who was still muttering to himself on the floor under some magazines that had toppled with him.

"What's happened, Arthur?" Mad-eye growled.

"Arthur, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley worried.

"It's Harry."

That very sentence shut SIrius up and she felt him stiffen between her feet. Aero felt her blood leave her body and her heart squeezed.

"What about Harry, Arthur?" Remus asked.

Arthur shook his head, trying to find his words. Irrational anger bubbled inside Aero for his lack of focus. What had happened to Harry?

"Arthur, what the hell happened to Harry!" she demanded.

"Aero-" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, her eye brows raised in surprise.

Arhutr ran a hand over his head and focused on Aero's face.

"He performed underage magic. The Ministry has already been informed. They're going to destroy his wand. Patronus Charm in from of a Muggle." Arthur replied urgently.

"_What_?" Sirius bellowed.

" I've already told DUmbledore, he's talking to the Ministry, but I can't garantee, what with his reputation now, that he'll be able to do anything-"

But Aero had already disapparrated. She found herself in the apparration center at the Ministry and stormed through the throng of people, crashing into people without apology or hesitation. She wasn't about to let Harry get expelled, let his wand be destroyed. He always had a reason for what he did, so if he made the patronus charm, then Dumbledore was right, and things were going very wrong at the Ministry. Dementors had attacked Harry without provocation in a Muggle infested area. Even if they didn't deliver the kiss, then they'd get him into legal trouble. A win win. But they had no idea who they were messing with...

She stalked down the hall, people giving her a wary glance as she did. She turned into the Minister's office without knocking and strode right in, standing in front of him as he sat stiffly at his desk, her hands on her hips, anger clear on her face. She paid no attention to Dumbledore or Umbridge, though apparrently Dumbledore and Fudge had been arguing.

"You've got to be off your rocker." she said.

"Excuse me, Auror Black, but the Minister is in a meeting-" Percy interuppeted, coming into the room .

"I heard you the first time you told me, before I came in, Weasley. I'm not deaf, I'm angry. So back the hell off before Magical Maladies has to come escort you away."

"But-"

"Aeroanna, this isn't a good time-" Fudge started, eyeing her wand wearily as it stuck out from her pocket.

"Oh, I think it's the perfect time. Are you, or are you not, trying to expel Harry James Potter from Hogwarts and destroy his wand?" she demanded.

"Well yes...the boy committed a crime-"

"He committed a crime? Are you hearing yourself? You can't be serious, Cornelius. There are plenty more people, right here in this very room, who have committed more crimes than that kid, and yet you're punishing him?" she scoffed, giving him a meaningful look.

"Aeroanna, I cannot ignore the crimes-"

"I'm not asking you to. But do you really want to go down this road with me, Cornelius Fudge? You've already punished one of my family without due process of law, so do you honestly want to do this with Harry Potter? It would be...extremely ill advised to do so." She said slowly, quietly, her lip curling slightly.

"Sirius Black had no case of innocence!" Umbridge protested.

"SO says the eyes of the Ministry at that time. But Sirius is not up for discussion right now though no doubt he'll be a reacurring topic at a later date. You will not, WILL NOT- she repeated strongly when Fudge went to interupt "- decide to expel Harry James Potter tonight. You will not lay a finger on his wand or approach his home. A court date will be set, he will have all the rights of a citizen, and that includes the right innocent until proven guitly, do I make myself clear?" she said, her hand on the edge of his desk, her face dangerously close to Minister's, a snarl in her voice.

"Aeroanna-"

"Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear, _Cornelius_?" she hissed.

"Fine. So be it. I cannot deny the boy due process, as you said. I will decide with the other officials on a court date then." he said angrily.

Aero stood up and smiled bitterly.

"So good we had this talk, Minister. It was so pleasant to see you again, Cornelius, Delores." she said and twirled around, striding out of the office, past a shocked Percy and down the hall.

"I do believe you've lost your cool, Aero."

"Not now, Professor D. I'm SO not in the mood for a lecture." she snapped.

"I was not going to lecture. Your anger resulted in a certain fiercness, which may have just won Harry's case."

She glanced at him through the corner of her eye as they walked.

"What are you on about?"

"Ms. Black, you do not seem to see the power with which you pocess. Your social standing alone makes you able to barge into the room like that without consequence. With one such as yourself fighting for young mister Potter, he has increasingly higher odds of winning. I will try myself to get him off those charges. Fudge is just trying to undermine my authority over my students, which includes you and Harry, and get Harry out of the way. So despite the fact you lost your cool, and possibly angered Cornelius, you did a favor to Harry, even though you risked your favor in Cornelius's eyes."

Aero stared forward again and reached the apparration point, took out her wand and disappeared with a crack, reappearring back at Grimmauld.

Immediatley Sirius and Remus were there.

"What happened?" they asked.

"Harry has a court date."

"What!" Sirius shotued.

"Calm down. At first they weren't even going to give him one, just expel him and take his wand. A court date is a chance to win against such ridiculous charges. If Harry produced a patronous, then Dementors must've been there, which is really quite clever, if you think about it." She said, waving her hand dismissively and walking down the stairs into the kitchen, the two men on her heels.

Kingsley and Tonks were there, along with Bill and several others.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"What I mean is, it's clever. Voldemort is insisting on flying under the radar, which in itself is genius. It makes Harry and Dumbledore look unstable, slowly tearing apart their reputations and giving Voldemort and his followers the ability of surprise for when they _do _attack. So as of now, they can quietly go about their business without too much suspision. And by sending Dementors after Harry, it's a win win. If they give him the kiss, Harry's out of the fight. But if they fail in that attempt, they've gotten him into trouble with the Ministry, who, along with the rest of teh Wizarding majority, won't belive that the demons under Ministry control would go after a young wizard without provocation, thereby making it look as if Harry was simply showing off magic, making him look unstable or arrogant and a threat to wizarding secrecy. And not only that, but he would be expelled, making it harder for Dumbledore to effectively protect him if he can't be at Hogwarts, and his wand would be destroyed, making it nearly impossible to defend himself when they indeed would attack him, taking him out of the picture for good. And it would get Dumbledore out of the way, when he starts saying it's Voldemort, he's returned, Harry was attacked by Dementors because Voldemort is slowly taking over the Ministry...it would unhinge his reputation, people would think he was a nutter, and then they, the Death eaters or even Voldemort himself, would go after him, making a clear path for his reign of terror yet again. It's clever. Evil, but clever."

"Clever." Kingsley agreed gravely.

"Why can't the dark lord just be stupid, it'd make this a lot easier..." Tonks muttered.

"Well, I've always liked a challenge." Aero shrugged.

"SO where's Dumbledore now?" questioned Remus.

"Probably making arrangements. I believe that's why you lot are here? My question is, where is Dung? Why wasn't he watching Harry?" Aero asked.

"Hell if I know. But if he's not there, then Old Figgy's got Harry." Sirius said.

"So we left him, after a dementor attack, under the watch of an elderly squib?" Aero clarified.

"Aero.." Remus chided, as if talking to an ignorant child.

"I've got nothing against squibs, I'm just saying...that's not the greatest protection here..." she explained.

"He'll be fine as of now. Dumbledore's just sent word that he'll be stayin' here." Mad-eye growled, coming down the stairs.

"Who's getting him?" Bill asked.

"I've got a team set up. Tonks, Lupin, let's go up with the others, eh?"

They watched them go up the stairs and sat in silence for a moment.

"I thought you'd be more excited that Harry was coming." Bill told Aero.

"Uh..well..."

"What?"

"C'mon...are you looking forward to his reaction?"

"I'm not understanding..." Sirius said.

"We've kept him inthe dark all summer...how do you think he'll react when he finds out what's been going on, that we haven't told him, and everyone's been here, working with a secret organization he knew nothing about?" She asked.

"Oooh..." Sirius and Bill chorused.

"Yeah. But Sirius is his godfather, so I doubt he'll rage at him." She sighed.

"Which leaves the two muskateers upstairs and ...you, to get the brunt of the anger." Bill said.

"Exactly. So no, I'm not looking forward to it as much as I was before..."


	11. Chapter 11 Clash of the Titans

**Sorry my little pumpkins, I haven't updated and I feel horrible about it, and I finally decided I'd get this thing up. Had a good talk with myself and everything. I'm very persuasive I've discovered :) **

**Anyways, I haven't updated because it's physically hard to write as of now. I helped get a snowblower out of a truck bed, getting stuck with the front of it, and let me just say, those things are EXTREMELY heavy, and I am a LITTLE person, so of course, I ended up slice-a-dicein a finger. I didn't like, decapitate it or anything but still...ow. But I've forced it to cooperate for a limited period of time, so it'll be a good little finger. I promised it a manicure. I'm not above bribery. So enjoy and review! **

**_Oh and Oli. B? THANK-YOU for the ego boost, I needed that. You're awesome!_**

**o00o0**

Aero leaned against the kitchen wall, listening to Bill go on about getting help from the Goblins. Apparrently they're fickle buggers, not wanting to get invovled. Which in a sense she understood, she wouldn't want to be involved either, but surely they realized their lives would flush even more down the metaphorical toilet if Moldywart took over, so why wouldn't they help the Order?

"Sooo, _William_. Are the goblins the only ones you're trying to persuade into something around there?" Aero asked innocently.

Bill gave her a look and glanced wearily at his mother who stood off to the side, talking to Ebony.

"She's a very nice woman." he replied.

"And a veela."

"And very nice."

"And a VEELA."

"What's your point?"

"Nothing. I was just pointing it out."

Bill sighed.

"Perhaps..." came a drawling voice. "We could get to the main topic of discussion sometime tonight?"

Aero and the others turned to look at Snape, who stood out like a fart in church, scowl on his face, dressed in complete black.

"Why, have a hot date with _Grease _Lightening tonight, Snapester?" Aero asked.

Snape frowned, even more so than usual, at her and Remus thunked her on the back of her head and gave her his infamous _be a good girl _look.

"What do you have to say, Snivellus?" Sirius snapped.

"Sirius, mind yourself." Remus chided quietly.

"I have essential information whenever I come to this..._house_, so if you want to at least _feel _like you're included, **_Black_**, I'd be awful nice to me." Snape said coldly.

Sirius scowled now, slumping in his chair, arms crossed.

"The Dark Lord, as far as I know, has not yet gained the control of the Dementors of Azkaban, nor did he order the attack on Potter." Sanpe said cooly, as if commenting on the weather.

It was silent for a minute.

"How is that possible? If he doesn't have control over them-" Shane started.

"Yet." Snape interrupted.

"_Yet_. Then who..."

"Ordered the attack on Harry?" Aero finished.

"That, I have no knowledge of and it does not interest me in the slightest." Snape said.

"Doesn't-! You horrible, stinking, wreched little-" Sirius cried furiously, getting up from his chair, hand twitching towards his wand, which Aero had gotten him with the discretion of Ollivander.

"SIRIUS!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"Do you hear him? Harry's protection is of no interest to this git." Sirius fumed.

"He didn't exactly say that, Padfoot, simply that the fiend behind the crime, if not the dark lord, holds no interest to him." Remus explained, though his tone was calm his eyes bore into Snape's.

"Oh, well that's alright then." Sirius muttered.

"Snape, if that's all there is, perhaps it's best you leave?" Aero suggested, keeping a weary eye on her cousin, waiting for the steam to come out of his ears like the ruddy Hogwarts Express.

"There is still the matter of the prophecy." Snape said.

"Is there a new development?" Bill asked.

Snape sneered.

"The dark lord is getting very...frustrated with the failed attempts. He's upping the forces."

"How, exactly?" Arthur wondered.

"It would seem that the Dark Lord is condoling the cunfunding of Ministry officials now. He's slowly but surely working his spies into the ministry. He has officials wandering around the area, on alert for any strays, such as..._Order members_." Snape leered, his gaze roving from Aero herself to others as Arthur and Sturgis Podmore.

"Do they know exactly who is in the Order?" Mrs. Weasley wondered, obviously fearing for everyone's exposed identities.

"Not yet. But rest assured, he will." Snape said.

"It's alright, we know the consequences. We're prepared for it." Desarie said, gripping Shane's hand over the table.

_That wasn't exactly comforting..._

Everyone paused when the sound of the front door opening came through the room.

"They can't hear us, right?" Sturgis asked.

"Are they really back already? Mad-eye made a quick trip..." Aero mused.

"It's not them."

They all glanced over to the doorway and saw Dumbledore there, looking very tired. He moved swiftly to the front of the table and sat down, lacing his hands together.

"Bill, you have the map with you?" he asked.

"Yessir."

"And Aero, you and Kingsley helped him with the layout? You didn't miss anything?"

"Not that we know of. We've checked, double checked and triple checked everything." She assurred him.

"Good, good. I am aware, thanks to Severus, that Voldemort is going to use extreme measures when it comes to the prophecy. I caution all of you now. We need to keep an eye on the prophecy, but you all must be careful. I wish no casualties. The Ministry is working against us, which will make it increasingly harder to to our jobs. We cannot be caught. You are risking Azkaban time by doing this, I just wish you to be cautious." he said gravely.

No one spoke. They all knew of course. They knew all of this. They knew the consequences of their actions, but in the end it would be worth it.

The sound of the front door opening came again and Mrs. Weasley rushed out to meet the group, giving Aero just a glimpse of them before the door closed.

"What about Harry?" she asked.

"What about him?" Dumbledore replied.

"Well, Harry's going to have questions. He's going to want answers. He deserves them too, after what he's been through. We've kept him in the dark all summer long, how much longer are we supposed to do that?" she wondered.

"It's for his own good."

"Harry's sure as hell not going to see it that way."

"Harry's in danger, now that Voldemort is back. Certain precautions must be taken to ensure his safety."

"But you're not going to tell us what those precautions are, are you?" She said, narrowing her eyes.

It was bad enough keeping Harry out in the dark about things, but she was supposed to just follow Dumbledore blindly? That didn't sit well with her.

"I cannot, Aero. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, whatever." she grumbled, turning away from him and glaring down at the table. She heard him sigh heavily and Remus put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"We will tell Harry no more than he needs to know."

Aero rolled her eyes and Remus brought her chair closer to his, keeping a firm hand on her shoulder, urging her to just go with it.

"What about his Ministry trial? Dumbledore, I want to go." Sirius said.

"It's too dangerous, Sirius."

"He needs someone there."

"You're a wanted criminal, Sirius. I understand your need to be there for him, and I'm sure Harry would appreciate it greatly, but the Ministry is already against him."

"Perhaps Black is just looking for a way out?" Snape drawled.

"Don't you dare say I'm using my godson like that." Sirius growled.

Snape lifted an eyebrow.

"It's obvious what your motives are Black."

"Snape, shut the hell up before I make you." Aero snapped, glaring angrily at the potions master.

"Enough. We have no time for old grudges. Sirius, Severus, behave yourselves. As I've said in previous meetings, we must be careful. Sirius, you going to the meeting, even as Snuffles, would be terribly dangerous and we cannot risk it. I'm sorry. Now, Bill, why don't we go over the Department of Mysteries layout." Dumbledore interrupted.

Aero sat back and played with her engagement ring as they talked. She caught the dull, muffled sounds of a comotion upstairs. No doubt Harry was taking everythingswimmingly. Soon the meeting was over and Dumbledore quickly left the house, along with Snape. Aero followed the group out, leaning against the railing on the stairs as everyone said their goodbyes. She ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. She felt exhausted. Taking rounds constantly from Mad-eye and Dumbledore, going on Harry watch, Auror Missions, Auror work itself and then coming to Grimmauld Place to deal with the other stressed out people, Sirius especially. It was entirely too exhausting to deal with.

She looked up them when a shiver passed down her spine. A fleshy colored object was dangling from one of the higher floors. She anxiously cast a glance at Mrs. Weasley who was too busy talking with Desarie about Selena to notice. But Lupin did and he just sighed, shaking his head. Aero reached up and firmly grasped the object in her hand.

_"Your ass is grass, Weasleys."_ she hissed to the eavesdroppers before depositing the extendable ear, courtesy of her fiance, in her jean pocket.

Honestly, eaves dropping on an Order meeting? It was so...the twins. She expected such tactics. She knew they were curious, they all were. But because they were still in school, they couldn't participate in them, and obeying Dumbledore's orders, Aero couldn't tell them. She knew it strained her and Fred, having secrets yet again, but...he knew her hands were tied in this case. But really...didn't they know it'd be a lot harder to eaves drop? Two of the legendary Marauders, their senior pranksters, were there.

Aero smiled and rolled her eyes. As the last members filed out the door the group came thundering down the stairs, though careful to keep their voices low. Aero looked pointedly at Fred and George who shrugged their shoulders innocently. She scoffed. She doubted those two had ever been innocent. They probably were making plans for baby domination in their playpens.

"You're not getting it back." she told them.

"Aw, but mum already confiscated the majority of them!" George said; distressed.

"What if I work really, _really _hard, for it. Then can I have my toy back?" Fred asked, a mischivous smile on his face.

Aero laughed, shaking her head. Fred wrapped an arm around her waist and nestled her into his side.

"Hey there, brother." Aero greeted the perpetually messy haired youngster.

"Have fun in your meeting?" He asked, his tone just a tad bit accussatory.

"Not particularly. I enjoyed it no more than potions class. Snape's a fun-sucker in and out of the classroom." she shrugged casually.

"What was it about?" Harry pressed.

"Patience, young grasshopper. All will be revealed in due time." she assured him.

"I'm lacking the virtue of patience right now."

"Yes, I can see that. Well then, _pretend_."

Harry scowled at her. And then there was the inivitable crushing sound that echoed through the hall. Aero groaned and looked to see, yet again, her cousin in a crumpled pile on the floor, her legs tangled in the umbrella stand. Aero made a mental note to do some serious rearanging later. That ruddy umbrella stand was not only unsightly but, when it came to Tonks, a safety hazard.

"Tonks!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry! I keep tripping over that-" Tonks wailed.

And then- ah, there it is. The beautiful singing of her great aunt Walburga. Woman had some serious lungs on her.

_"Mudbloods! Bloodtraitors! Filth, scum, besmirching the names of my father!" _she shrieked, her eyes rolling back in her head.

"Shut up, you horrible hag, shut up!"

Aero spun around to see Sirius fly from the kitchen and storm over to his mother, Remus hot on his heels.

"YOU! You are no son of mine, you filthy swine, disease of my blood!" she screamed ever louder, her sickening eyes zeroed in on her scruffy cousin who seemed to be shaking with anger.

"I said shut up!" he cried.

With the combined effort of both Remus and Sirius they managed to close the curtain and shut up the old woman while Desarie and Tonks calmed the other portraits down. Ruddy domino effect...one screamed the whole house screamed.

"Well, I see you've met my mother." Sirius said bitterly.

"That's your mother?" Harry gaped.

"Charming woman isn't she?" Sirius muttered, steering them into the kitchen.

"What's your mother doing here?" Harry wondered.

"I grew up in this house." Sirius explained.

They entered the kitchen and saw Bill still overlooking some maps, quickly trying to put them away.

"Alright Harry? Mad-eye didn't make you fly via Greenland then?" Bill asked.

"Tried to make us fly through some clouds. Here, let me help." Tonks said before knocking a candle onto the map.

"Oh no, sorry!" she cried.

"Were you always so clutzy, Dora?" Aero asked, whipping out her wand and salvaging the map.

"Things like this should be put away at the end of meetings." Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"Right, sorry mum." Bill said, flicking his own wand and making the maps disappear.

Aero plopped down beside a sleeping Mundungus, by Sirius and Harry, and beside Fred.

"Harry, this is Mundungus Fletcher." Sirius introduced.

Aero kicked the man's shin and he awoke with a start, clearly disoriented as he raised his hand.

"I 'gree wif Sirius..." he grumbled.

"Meeting's over, Dung, keep up." Aero laughed.

"Is it?" he asked, blinking up at her.

"Dung, this is Harry." SIrius said.

"Blimey, so it is, so it is. Look, Harry m'boy, I'm sorry 'bout tonight. I had a business opportunity you see, a friend a mine was giving away some good cauldrons-" Dung said desperately, leaning forward.

"Stolen cauldrons, Mundungus! And what have I told you about smoking at the table?" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"Righ' sorry, Molly."

"Aw Dung, am I gunna have to field your illegal actions again? You're giving me a lot of work here, mate." Aero groaned.

"Well, technically, I ain't doin' nothin wrong, cuz I'm legitimately buyin' im see? The friend I'm gettin im from on the other hand..."

"So you're a legal business man now?" Aero replied, smiling fondly at the man.

She really did like Dung. He was an amusing little man. Troublesome, maddening, but amusing.

"Fred, George NO! JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked suddenly.

The end of teh table looked up just in time to dive away from the table and Aero caught sight of knives teh twins had hovered on a plate shoot towards them. Aero hit the floor out of instinct and looked up to see a knife wobbling as it pointed out from teh table, right where Sirius's hand had been. Dung was swearing up a storm as he got to his feet and Harry and Sirius had busted out laughing.

"Sorry Sirius mate, didn't mean to." George said quickly, getting the knives.

Fred leaned down an helped Aero up, running his hands over her hair as he smoothed it out.

"Alright there, love?" He asked.

"Perfectly fine. But this is dinner, Freddie, not target practice."

Fred and George smiled sheepishly. Aero turned to examine the hot pot that had skidded down the table as well, and left a scorch mark down its trail.

"Sorry 'bout that." the twins chorused.

"Not a problem." Sirius shrugged.

"Adds character." Aero agreed.

"Boys, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now that you're of age." Arthur sighed.

"None of your brothers caused this much trouble! Bill didn't feel the need to apparrate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy-" Mrs. Weasley trailed off.

Aero winced at the mention of Percy's name. He was such a sore subject lately.

"Let's eat." Bill suggested quickly, taking in his mother's teary eyed expression and the cold anger on his father's.

"Looks delicious, Molly." Remus murmured.

Sirius and Harry got into their chairs and Fred plopped down beside Aero, silent, wary of his mother. Aero grabbed his hand over the table, trying to soothe him.

"I've been meaning to tell you. There's something shaking in that old desk. I think it's just a boggart, but I want to have Mad-eye take a look at it." Mrs. Weasley said after a few minutes of silence.

"Whatever you like." Sirius said indifferently.

"The curtains in there are filled with doxies. I figured we'll clean those tomorrow." she carried on.

"Looking forward to it." Sirius said, just a hint of detectable sarcasm.

Aero kicked him under the table and gave him a warning look. He was like a child sometimes.

Meanwhile Bill,Shane, Remus and Arthur were in deep discussion about Goblins.

"They can't actually side with Voldemort, can they? I mean, after what he's done to them?" Shane wondered.

"I think it's all about what they're offerred." Remus said.

"But remember that goblins family that was murdered? They've suffered losses too." Arthur argued.

"I don't know. They're not really siding with anyone at the moment. I think they want to stay out of a wizarding war." Bill sighed.

Beside her, Dung was being elctured about his business dealings by Mrs. Weasley while the twins were still laughing into their drinks about his story with the stolen toads.

Aero didn't talk much, feeling extremely exhausted. She occassionaly commented in other discussions, such as the Goblins and Dung's business life, but mainly listened as Fred played with her fingers on the table.

"Time for bed, I think." Mrs. Weasley sighed, stretching a bit.

"Not just yet. I'm surprised at you, Harry, I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here was start asking questions about Voldemort." Sirius said, looking at the boy.

Aero felt the easy feeling in the room evaporate and suddenly everything was tense.

"I did! I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order so-" Harry exclaimed.

"And they're quiet right, you're too young." Mrs. Weasley interrupted, her fists on the table, her back straight and her expression hard.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order to ask questions? Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house all summer, he has a right to know what's been happen-" Sirius started.

"Hang on!" Ginny cried furiously.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" Fred shouted.

"WE'VE been trying to get things out of you for a month, but you won't tell us anything!" George added.

"You're too young, you're not in the Order! Harry's not even of age!" Fred continued.

Aero sighed and hung her head, massaging her temples. Fred and George, as well as Ginny, had been pestering her and Bill ever since they got here about the Order.

"It's not my fault that you haven't been told anything, that's your parent's decision, Harry on the other hand-" Sirius said calmly.

"It's not your place to decide what's good for Harry! You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, have you?" Mrs. Weasley raged.

"Which bit?" Sirius said through gritted teeth.

Aero sighed again. A war was about to errupt in this kitchen and she had not protection. They should really start posting warnings in the halls or something...

"About not telling Harry more than he _needs to know_." Mrs. Weasley seethed.

The others were watching back and forth between Sirius and Mrs. Weasley like a tennis match. Aero considered it more like a clash of the Titans.

"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly. But he's the one who saw Voldemort come back-" cue collective shudder "-and has more right than most to-"

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix! He's only fifteen and -"

"And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order, if not more-"

"No one's denying what he's done, but he's still just a-"

"He's not a child!"

"He's not an adult either! He's not James, Sirius!"

"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks Molly."

"I'm not sure you do. The way you talk about him sometimes sounds like you think you've got your best friend back!"

"What's wrong with that?" Harry asked.

"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you look like him. You are still in school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" Sirius demanded.

"_Oh dear Merlin_..." Aero muttered.

"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and-"

"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!"

"Arthur! Arthur back me up!" Mrs. Weasley cried, turning to her husband.

"Dumbledore knows the position has changed. He knows Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent, now that he's staying at headquarters..." Arthur sighed.

"There's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"

"Just because he asks doesn't mean we're going to answer." Aero reminded her.

" Personally, I think it's better he gets the facts, not the whole thing, just the general picture, from us, rather than the garbled version from...others." Remus said.

Aero reached a hand down and patted her pocket with the extendable ear in it.

Mrs. Weasley was enraged.

"Well...well I can see I'm going to be overruled. Let me just say this, Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart-"

"He's not your son." Sirius said quietly.

"He's as good as. Who else has he got?"

"He's got me!" SIrius shouted.

"Yes, but it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you were locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?" Mrs. Weasley said, her lip curling.

That was it. They were behaving like children, and that was a low blow. Aero, who normally liked Mrs. Weasley as if a mother to her, suddenly felt very protective of Sirius and incredibly intolerant of her attitued.

"_**Enough**_. Molly, that is quite enough. You are a guest within this house, so you will behave as one. I will no longer tolerate such childish behavior from either one of you, and Molly, you know better. To bring up such a thing as Azkaban to Sirius..." Aero shook her head, her eyes cold. "If you want to win with cheap shots and low blows, then so be it. I get you care about my brother, I'm not denying that, but _honestly_." Her own lip curling into a cruel smirk. "You've already caused problems with one son, do you really want to take on another?" she said lowly, watching the shock fall across the woman's face.

"Aero, _stop it_. Sirius, sit down. Molly, you are not the only one who cares about Harry. He's old enough to make the decision for himself." Remus said, casting Aero a wary glance and then one at Sirius, who sank back into his seat, hiw face white.

Mrs. Weasley's lower lip trembled.

"I want to know what's been going on." Harry said quietly, avoiding looking at Mrs. Weasley.

"Very well...Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Hermione...I want you all out of this kitchen. Now."

"We're of age!" the twins cried.

"If Harry can, why can't I?" Ron shouted.

"But Mum I want to!" Ginny exclaimes angrily.

"No! I absolutely forbid!"

"Molly, you can't really stop the twins, they're of age..." Arthur reminded her gently.

"They're still in school!"

"But they're legal adults now."

"I-oh alright then, they can stay, but Ron-"

"Harry with tell me and Hermione anything you say anyways! ...Won't you?" ROn said, then suddenly looking uncertainly at Harry.

Harry paused and then nodded.

"Course I will..." he said.

"FINE! Fine, Ginny BED!"

Aero listened to Ginny stomp and holler at her mother all the way up the stairs. She refused to look at Fred. She didn't know why she got so mad, but she was just always on edge lately, lack of sleep, so stressed out, and then Mrs. Weasley had unfairly attacked Sirius, and the comment about Harry not having anyone else personally insulted her, and then before she knew it she was snarling at her future-mother-in-law. But Sirius had been through alot, and then she just attacked him. Mrs. Weasley was just being a bitch.

After the meeting, which Mrs. Weasley had then interrupted yet again, everyone dispersed for bed. At least the kids did. Aero followed the others into the living room and immediatley took out her flask, sitting on the couch, resting her feet on the table and taking deep swigs of firewhiskey.

"What was that in there?" Tonks asked, pointing her thumb towards the kitchen.

Aero shrugged, staring hard at the gems on her black leather boots.

"Man, my mother just lost it in there. Sorry Sirius mate." Bill said.

"No blood no foul." Sirius muttered, yanking the flask from Aero's grip and taking a chug himself.

"That's mine, you bloody wanker. You're goin' to drink it all." Aero whined.

"You're a whiskey hog. Have been ever since you were little."

"Oh, don't remind me." Remus muttered, shaking his head.

"You gave her whiskey?" Bill snorted.

Sirius grinned and pulled an arm around his disgruntled cousin's shoulder.

"Yeah, when she was like what? Two? Got into my flask, wasn't much in it mind you, but still, kid couldn't stand right after that. Kept falling over everywhere. Lily thought I got her drunk on purpose."

"She was furious. Didn't she beat you with a broom?" Remus added.

"Yeah, yeah she did. All redheads have nasty tempers. I didn't mean to get ya drunk, Aer, just happened. But after that you wouldn't give the flask back and kept asking James for more." Sirius laughed. "See? You've always been a whiskey hog."

Aero rolled her eyes.

"First alcoholic toddler. Thanks much, Sirius." she said before getting the flask back and shielding it from his hands.

They were all silent for a moment.

"You gunna go talk to Casanova?" Sirius asked.

"Why?" Aero wondered.

"Think he'd be a little ticked off you attacked his mother?"

Aero shrugged.

"I was only defending you." she replied.

"Which I'm thankful for, by the way."

"Should be. I have nothing to be sorry for." She said stubbornly.

"You were a tad harsh." Desarie said.

"She started it."

"I'm not saying she was right, but I'm not saying you were either. She was being protective of Harry and you were being protective of Sirius. Things just went a bit too far." Desarie explained.

"I'm not apologizing. I'm not ashamed of what I did." Aero shrugged, taking another swig.

Desarie sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Aero...she's going to be your mother-in-law. You two should probably stay on good terms."

"We would be if she wouldn't act all high and mighty with Sirius. He's been through enough shit, he doesn't need it from her too."

Sirius grinned beside her.

"Sirius, stop encouraging her." Desarie chided.

"I'm not, I'm not." he laughed.

"Yeah, of course not. Look Aero...just try to reign in your temper. I know, I know. You're all stressed out. You're a big ball of stress. But don''t take it out on other people, hun."

Aero looked at the blonde and rolled her eyes. She was not apologizing for defending her family.

"All right, all right. We're not getting anywhere tonight. Why don't we all just go to bed." Remus said then.

Desarie and Shane departed with goodbyes and the others filed up the stairs. Aero reached her room and fell onto her bed. She hoped tomorrow would be better...

* * *

Aero sat at the kitchen table that morning, carefully avoiding Mrs. Weasley. She wasn't going to apologize, she knew she had too much pride for that, and she didn't necessarily believe that she was in the wrong in the first place. She picked at her scrambled eggs, her glass of milk untouched. Instead she sat there, moving her fork around and poking her eggs and twirling her hair tiredly.

"Aero, eat." Remus, yet again, urged her.

"I'm not that hungry."

"You need to eat. You're exhausted, you need fuel."

"No, I need sleep and a no-wars-allowed treehouse."

Sirius picked his head up from his own meal.

"You want a tree house?" he asked.

Aero gave him a look.

"I don't think it'll fit in this house...I suppose we could try..." he muttered, looking around teh room.

Aero shook her head exasperatedly.

"Eat." Remus said.

"You eat."

"I'm telling you to eat."

"Well I'm telling you I don't want to."

"I'm not asking. Eat your damn eggs."

"Yes, mother dear."

"Aero..."

"I'm eating."

"You're nibbling."

"Well if you want to get specific about it."

"Aero! You're like a fussy toddler."

"Hey, uncle Remus. You like sea food?"

"Moony don't-"

"I suppose I do..._oh **EW**_."

"I tried to tell you mate...now your eyes are scarred. You should listen to me more often-_Hey there, Romeo_. You look cranky. You should go have a healthy spat with Juliet here."

Aero looked up after closing her mouth to see Fred and George in the doorway. Indeed, Fred looked cranky.

"Well, looking at that sour puss, I'd rather not." Aero said, staring anxiously over at the grumpy ginger.

Fred then turned and walked out and with an aggravated groan Aero got up and followed suit. She followed him to the second floor landing before she yanked on his sleeve.

He turned around to scowl at her. She sighed, irritated, and put her hands on her hips, looking expectantly at him.

"Alright, what crawled up your ass and died?" she asked.

"I'm just cranky."

She rolled her eyes.

"I have 20-20 vision, I can see that, _thanks_."

"Well, someone is snippy today."

"If you're going to bring my attitude into this, then you can blame your mother for that."

"Don't bring my mother into this, she makes everything all complicated and complicated gives me headaches."

"We're getting off topic. I repeat, what crawled up your ass, Gingerbread?"

Fred stared hard at her and she raised an eyebrow in response, pursing her lips.

"I'm frustrated, you little thundercloud." he said finally.

"Frustrated? With what?" she asked. "What could you _possibly _be frustrated about?"

Aero could've sworn his cheeks got some faint coloring to them, but he looked her straight in the eye.

"_Sexually _frustrated." he muttered.

Aero opened her mouth and then closed it. It hadn't been that long since they...had it? Aero tried to count back in her head.

"I know you're busy and all...but seriously. I have needs, woman."

"I know, I'm sorry...it's just...I've been really stressed out lately so it just...slipped my mind I guess."

"There's an ego boost." he said.

"You know what I mean."

"Aero? Could you help Molly find the cleaning products?" She heard Remus shout up the stairs.

Aero looked at Fred before turning and began to walk to the stairs. And then Fred had her pinned against the wall, his mouth hard on hers, his hands wandering up her shirt. Aero sighed and let his tongue in, pushing her hands into his hair. It had been too long.

She turned her head away for breath and he moved down her neck, clearly a little desperate.

"Fred..._we can't_..."

"Remus will find them himself." he said.

"No I mean we can't..."

She slipped under his arms and started going down the stairs, Fred grabbing her arm.

"Why not?" he groaned.

"Because. It's not a good idea right now."

"_Aero_!"

"No Fred. I'm not in the mood."

"But-"

"I said no. Feel free to use the bathrooms though."

Aero reached the bottom of the stairs.

"BUT I HAVE NEEDS-" Aero turned back to glare at him and he stopped dead. "-_but they're not that important_."

She gave him a piercing look before leaving her sexually frustrated fiance on the stairs and walking into the Drawing Room to help Remus and Mrs. Weasley.

"What was that about?" Tonks asked curiously.

Aero gave a short laugh.

"Nothing. He was just telling me about his needs."

"And you're not going to help him?" Tonks smirked.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I don't think he'd enjoy it."

"Why?"

Aero glanced at the two oblivious adults who were talking about the doxies.

"I'm in the process of riding my crimson wave right now."

Tonks laughed. "Oooh."

Aero shook her head.

"Remus, the cleaning products are in the hall closet." she said loudly.

"Oh, thank-you."

Mrs. Weasley hurried out of the room to go get the supplies so they could officially initiate war on the house. Remus bent low to pick up an old book under one of the tables.

"Mmmhmmm." Tonks murmured appreciatively.

Aero looked at her cousin, scandalized. And a little disturbed.

"Oh please. Just please, Tonks." she said.

Tonks looked down and looked confused. "What?"

"Stop checking out my uncle. You're my cousin, he's my uncle. It's wrong."

"No it isn't."

"Yes, yes it is. That's like all kinds of wrong. It's like...incest or something." Aero grumbled.

Tonks smirked.

"No. He's not my blood."

"Still...ew. My cousin should not be checking out my uncle. You're giving me hebejebes."

"Hebe-_whats_? And I get how you can't check him out, cuz that's all kinds of wrong right there, but I can. And damn, let me tell you, he's fine." Tonks said, chancing a glance at the werewolf again.

Aero shuddered.

"Ew. Just ew."

"What's ew?" Desarie asked, coming into the room and looking between Tonks' amused expression and Aero's horrified one.

"Nymphadora here is checking my uncle out."

"Don't call me that!"

"Tonks...he's like...a decade older than you." Desarie pointed out.

"So? It's not like we'd be getting married or anything. But you know...people tend to let loose during war times..." She said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle that had Aero cringing.

"UGH, no. Stop. Please stop." she whined.

"Tonks, you're killing the kid. Stop. She doesn't want to know anything about her uncle's future sex life." Desarie laughed.

"Don't say uncle and sex in the same sentence." Aero groaned.

"He may be your uncle, but he's also a man, who I believe needs to drop the books and get laid already." Desarie said.

"Whose side are you on!" Aero cried.

Desarie smirked and Tonks watched Remus from across the room.

"Stop looking at him like that!" Aero snapped.

"He's a fine piece of man. And intelligent. And sensetive. Do you know how hot that is?" Tonks said.

"I'm gunna go die in a corner now." Aero muttered.

"I can definatley see the appeal of an older man. Plus he's not an insensetive arse." Desarie nodded, slinging an arm around Aero's shoulders as she too examined an oblivious Remus.

"You're like molesting him with your eyes. Stop being creepers."

"We're not being creepers. We're just appreciating the view."

"Or well, you're appreciating. I'm married now, I can't do that anymore. But if I could..."

"Anyone have a bucket I can upchuck in?"

"What's got you ladies looking suspicious?" Remus asked, finally coming over to the group by the door.

"Nothing!" Aero said quickly.

"Oh, nothing, nothing, Remus. We were just saying what a lovely view this room has." Tonks said innocently.

Remus turned halfway to look out the window and nodded.

"It's a very nice view, isn't it." he said.

"Oh, very." Tonks agreed with a smirk.

"Alright, I've got the supplies. Desarie dear, could you go get the kids? And tell Sirius that Buckbeak's food is waiting in the living room." Mrs. Weasley said coming back into the room.

Aero had never been so happy to see anyone in her life. These girls were going to send her into the arms of a therapist...


	12. Chapter 12 A little more us

Alright. I figured I'd answer a few reviews. **Nomurai**_ - I'm glad you like the chapter. Uhm, the wedding date hasn't been set, but it will happen in OotP, I swear. _**Nessie4597**_ - yes indeed, she will. It'll be a little surprising for her. Granted, I didn't plan the timing of these two stories out well, because if I reveal anything of Sirius and Daelyn's past in this story, if might give away things that haven't been revealed in Marauder Honor. So Sirius, and even Remus, may be harboring any Daelyn secrets for awhile at least. But she will find out. _**Kissmeintherain26 **_- I know, I feel the same way about Aero right now. I'm trying to tone it down, it's just she IS involved in this whole thing, and yes, I'll tell you now it will cause strains, there will be confrontations and such, because Aero is involved and they aren't and she knows things and they don't, and she just can't tell them. Haha, yes, this chapter will be a help-the-poor-bugger-out chapter. ANd I know, Molly was a bitch, and Aero has a bitch streak in her that will come out a lot more often now when it comes to her boys (Remus, Sirius, Fred, Harry etc.). She's very protective of them. So expect more raging Aero scenes. _**Aero's little pointer finger -**_ Well hello to you too ;) I apologize for the long wait, my intention was not to make you shutup your inner fangirl. I like the user name by the way. If I ever miss a due date again, feel free to remind me. _

**

* * *

_"A little bit a faith, little bit a trust, little bit a never given up. Little bit a you, a little bit a me, a little less them, a lot more we, Just a little more us, Just a little more us...Tonight." _**

**- Stereo Skyline**

"That's just nasty. Couldn't you have found a more..._sanitary _pet?" Aero asked Sirius, looking at Buckbeak.

"You have that blasted cat. Leave my hippogriff alone."

"Mine eats cat food. Yours eats...everything else."

"Perfectly fine. He's a growing boy."

"He grows anymore and he won't fit in this room."

"Then we'll get him a bigger room."

Aero gave Sirius an exasperated look as Buckbeak licked some blood from his snack off some of his talons. Sirius looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"So we'll get him a bib. No harm done." he muttered.

Aero threw her hands up and walked from the room, Sirius trailing after her.

"Go wash your hands." Aero demanded as they entered teh kitchen.

"Why? I didn't eat the dead things!"

"You touched them!"

"Just barely!"

"Sirius, you just came back from feeding time at your in-home zoo. Go wash your hands." Remus said from his seat at the table, flipping through a large book.

Sirius huffed and puffed and stalked to the sink, all the while giving Aero the stink eye as he scrubbed his hands. Aero made a face and stuck out her tongue, to which he mimicked the action and then they both proceeded to use their hands and stick their thumbs in their ears and wiggle their fingers.

"Sirius, the sink is going to flood over. Stop the water." Remus reminded him.

"Oh yeah!"

Aero grabbed an apple and bit into it, leaning against the wall.

"Shouldn't you be cleaning?" Remus asked.

"I should be, but I don't want to, so I'm not." She shrugged.

"Aero, you should help them."

"I don't want to. So I'm not. Don't turn this into some big argument, Uncle Moony." Aero pleaded.

"Fine, fine. But do something productive."

"Alright. I'm going to find Fred." She said, waving a hand half-heartedly over her shoulder as the walked out.

"He didn't mean _reproductive_!" she heard Sirius shout after her as she walked up the stairs.

Aero smirked and rolled her eyes, looking around and peering into rooms as she passed, searching for her favorite ginger. She found herself by the door just as the bell rang. She swung the door open, eyeing her aunt's portrait wearily. She raised an eyebrow curiously as Dung hobbled through, a large amount of cauldrons in his arms.

"Thanks much, Aer. Couldn open the door meself, you know?" he said as he walked passed her as she leaned against the open door, watching him go with a slightly amused, slightly confused expression.

Sirius and Kingsley, who had just gotten here to give a report, came up fomr the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Mundungus?" Kingsley asked.

"Gotta find a place to hide 'em, see..." Dung replied, looking around.

"You're hiding dodgy cauldrons here?" Sirius asked.

"Got no wheres else to put 'em, knew you wouldn't mind much, Sirius."

Sirius shrugged.

"Don't really mind as long as ministry officials don't come a'knockin on my front door." he said.

Dung grinned a toothless smile.

"I'm not sure it's a very good idea." Kingsley interrupted.

"What the matter, Kings? We've got plenty of room for Dung's...business, right?" Aero said, finally closing the door.

"See? See? Told yeah, won't cause trouble, honest!" Dung exclaimed.

Kings sighed heavily.

"It is your house, Sirius." he said eventually.

"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!" a sudden voice shrieked, making them all jump.

Aero looked over Kingsley's shoulder to see Mrs. Weasley storming down the stairs, her eyes narrowed on little Dung. Aero followed Mrs. Weasley's warpath and saw the others peering over the railing at them. Finally, she found Fred.

"YOU'RE COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE! AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH WITHOUT YOU BRINGING IN STOLEN ITEMS!"

Aero and Sirius both winced sympathetically as Dung tried to stutter out a defense. Aero looked up the stairs again and back to Dung. The thing is, though she had always, at least before this summer, stayed on Mrs. Weasley's good side and never fought with her, she did learn that with this woman you had to carefully choose your battles and since they already butted heads once, she's have to let Dung manage himself. She silently crept passed the arguing woman and the little thief, ignoring Sirius's knowing look and bypassing Kingsley and made her way up the stairs.

She saw the open door and bolted, running in.

"What are we all doing?" she asked.

"Listening to our dear mum chew someone else out for once." the twins chorused.

"The idiots are letting her get into her stride. You've got to head her off early otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours." George chided, shaking his head.

Aero looked pointedly at Fred for a moment before sliding back out the door and heading to her room. She could hear Fred walking behind her and as she turned the corner to walk up the staircase she saw Tonks and Bill there, talking intensely about something in the hall. Aero frowned, thinking fast as Fred came to a stop behind her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Shh!" she hissed, pointing and Fred made an "o" face. She rolled her eyes.

"Where to?" he whispered.

"Well, as kinky as the kitchen would be, Remus is down there. And I'm not one to do it in a cramped bathroom...Buckbeak has Walburga's room, Regulus's room is locked..." she said quietly.

"Ron and Harry's room has a portrait in there, so it's not exactly private...the girls room is filled with an angry orange cat I don't want to fight for territory..." Fred said.

Aero pursed her lips, thinking before a sudden smile lit her lips.

"What're you thinking?" Fred asked curiously.

Aero simply spun around and grabbed his hands firmly before apparrating on the spot with a crack. They reappeared in the hallway above Aero's, one with only two rooms. She walked towards one of the doors and pushed it open.

"Sirius's room?" Fred asked with a grin.

Aero just smiled and grabbed him by the collar, shoving him hard against the wall with a thud and crashed their lips together for a bruising kiss, fisting her hands in his shirt. Fred instantly had his hands in her hair, pulling her closer as he angled his head for better access. Aero laid her body flat against his and couldn't help the smirk when she felt how excited he already was.

"What? I told you, _frustrated_." he said, pulling back to pout at her.

"I didn't say anything." she defended; amused.

"No, but you were thinking it."

"I was just wondering it all this pent up frustration was going to make this little sexcapade..._quick_." she shrugged.

Fred stared, horrified, as if she had insulted him.

"I'm not quick! You make me sound like a third year wanking off in the bathroom!"

"Nonsense. I'm sure you lasted much longer than the average third year." she soothed.

"Damn right I did." he grumbled as she started kissing his neck.

"You're talking too much. I didn't come in here for a conversation." she said, bringing her hands to the hem of his shirt and he obediently raised his arms.

Aero yanked his shirt off, tossing it carelessly to the floor, or possibly a piece of furniture, and placed her hands firmly on his chest as she stretched up on her toes to kiss his mouth, Fred's hands holding her head to him as he shoved his tongue through her lips without waiting for an invitation. She could feel all his frustration leaking through the kiss as they became heated, clinging to each other almost desperately. She placed a leg between his and pushed it against his erection, earning herself a groan of appreciation as he ground himself against it.

Fred pushed off against the wall and they walked bilndly back to Sirius's bed until he was hovering over her on the mattress, breathing heavily. He moved down her neck, biting agressively, clearly marking his territory. He quickly did away with her clothing, leaving her bare beneath him. She smirked up at him and shoved her hand down his pants, brushing against him and he threw his head back with another groan.

Fred crashed their lips together, leaning down on her and grinding, desperate for friction as her hands began working the buttons on his jeans. She gave a grunt of frustration and finally pushed them down his hips, using her feet to pull them down the rest of teh way and Fred kicked them to the floor. She gave him an amused smile.

"Going cammando?" she said.

"Well, I wanted to be ready when an opportunity such as this presented itself you see."

She gave a short laugh and flipped them over, straddling Fred who grinned like a fool up at her. She shook her head.

"What? This is my 'hey I'm finally getting laid' look." he shrugged. "What do you-"

Aero effectively cut him off when she rose herself up and impaled herself on his weeping dick.

"FUCK!" he shouted.

She rose back up again and sharply dropped down as he gripped her hips, thrusting up to meet her with a grunt.

She sat back down and immediatley ground their hips together. Instead of raising back up she rolled her hips, her hands curlings around his shoulders as he continued to thrust up, his eyes focused entirely on her, making a heat sear through her body as she continued to grind into him. His dick hit her sweet spot and she moaned, closing her eyes tightly, her nails scraping down his chest.

"Fuckin' hell..." she said between gritted teeth.

"Told you it had been too long." he grunted, using his hands to grab her and lift her back up before shoving her back down, both moaning at the act.

She raised her hands to the headboard above him and started thrusting herself down on him, moaning loudly as he grunted out curses, his eyes closed and his face scruntched up. Neither one would last long.

Aero could feel the sweat on their bodies, making her slide easier. She felt like her body was on fire. She couldn't fathom why it had been so long since they last fucked. She couldn't think of anything at that moment really, it was like nothing else existed, just the coiling in her stomach that was ready to release at any given moment.

"I'm not gunna last long... "Fred told her.

_"Cum for me." _she said. She wasn't asking, she was telling.

And with that Fred let out a cuss and they both tensed, Aero groaning out Fred's name as they both came at the same moment.

After a minute Aero's arms started shaking as they rested firmly on the headboard and she let go, falling to Fred's side, trying to catch her breath.

"Fuckin' Merlin's balls, let's not wait that long again." Fred said, running a hand through his hair.

"Feel free to initiate it next time." she said quietly, her eyelids becoming heavy.

Fred glanced at her before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her towards him, tight against his side, and lifted the thin bedsheet over them as her breathing evened out and her eyes closed.

**FPOV**

Fred opened hs eyes and was confused for only a moment, until he remembered he was..._in Sirius Black's room with said man's sleeping, naked, baby cousin. _But he couldn't bring himself to care exactly, a smile coming to his lips as he remembered why they were there.

He glanced down at Aero, who was adorably curled into his side, their legs intertwined. He glanced around the room then. He didn't know Sirius very well, but the way Aero talked about him...he had to have been pretty amazing. The recent Sirius always left a bitter after taste and Aero was always quick to assure him it was just Sirius's way of expressing his frustration about being under house arrest. And Fred had to agree with her...the Sirius that used to live in this room looked pretty wicked.

There were photographs all over the place, red and gold coloring, Gryffindor posters, muggle pictures of women on what Aero told him were motorcycles, a Beater's bat in the corner and posters for Quidditch teams. And then Fred remembered...Sirius had been this way once, not the grumpy, sarcastic bone thin man he was now. He had been what looked like the life of the party, the one who was a bit like himself and George, really. It had been that Sirius, the one who had lived in this room, that had raised Aero, had influenced his fiance so much in such a short time and turned her into who he had fallen in love with. Fred felt a sudden, strong urge of affection for the broken Marauder. That man had saved Aero from a life of being a Slytherin, and turned her into the strong, loyal and beautiful Gryffindor beside him.

Fred looked down at the sleeping girl, a fond smile on his face as he looked her over. She truly was beautiful. All he ever saw was her beauty, how she was such a tiny little thing but as fierce as a lioness, how her eyes lit up with child like curiousity but a second later could burn with a passion that would make his knees buckle, how she could light up a room with one of her rare smiles, or give a smirk that made him wonder what she was schemeing inside her mind, how she was all muscle from Quidditch, yet looked so small and fragile when she lay beside him like this. Or how she had been through so much, had taken so many rotten cards from life and was so afraid to love and be loved, yet she let him inside her heart. She was a series of contradictions in one tiny little beautiful package.

But he wondered if she saw that. He wondered if that strong girl who refused to let anyone walk over her, who acted like nothing fazed her, knew how amazing, how beautiful she was. She had been injured all her life, bearing the scars of a haunting past, and he occassionally caught her watching herself in her mirror, a somber expression always on her face.

Fred looked at her closer, skimming his fingertips over her skin, feeling the bumps as he ran over her scars. He had seen her roughed up, seen her lay in her hospital bed covered in red, seen her bruised and beaten and bandaged, and yet not once, not for a second, did he think it took away from her beauty. If anything, they were just physical symbols of her strength, of her bravery. She fought a rampaging Werewolf, granted it was Lupin, from hurting his brother and Hermione and Harry. She was a toddler in a sea of death eaters and scarred for the rest of her life by the woman supposed to protect her. She was beaten by the people meant to take care of her. And yet she never complained. Not once had he ever heard her complain about her life. It was one of the many things he loved about her, actually. The way she took what life gave her, however shitty and unfair it was, and carried on.

"You're staring..." she murmured, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Just admiring my fiance, is that so wrong?"

She gave a quiet laugh as she stretched, a bit like a cat as she unfurled herself.

"No. You had a strange expression though. You alright?" she asked, running a hand unconciously up her scarred arm.

Fred grabbed her hand gently in his and gave her a chaste kiss.

"Absoluetly fine. Like I said, just admiring you. You know, I don't think I tell you enough, but I love you." he told her.

Aero furrowed her brow in confusion was smiled just the same.

"I love you as well."

Aero looked around as she sat up on her elbows.

"Suppose we should get up before Sirius comes up to his room." she said casually.

Fred rolled his eyes. They just fucked in her cousin's bed and she didn't even care about him finding out...

* * *

Aero walked down the hall and into the kitchen, seeing Mrs. Weasley peering around at the three at the table. Tonks was sitting at the table over a piece of parchment and Remus and Bill were both leaning over her shoulders, staring down at it and talking quietly, laughing and cracking smiles. Aero glanced over at Mrs. Weasley again and saw the woman eyeing the lack of distance between Tonks and Bill with a smile. Aero rolled her eyes. She was trying to play match-maker. Honestly, there was just as much room between those two as Remus and Tonks.

Shaking her head, Aero went over and told Remus she was going out.

"Where?" he asked.

"Nowhere in particular really. Desarie and Shane are both on assignment, so I'm watching Selena and she hasn't gotten out much so Shane said I could take her out myself. Probably just nip around for lunch and to the park or something, you know. Kids only three, only so much she can do." Aero said with a shrug.

Remus frowned and sighed.

"Fine...just...be careful, yeah?"

"'course, Uncle Moony." she said with a dismissive wave before walking out the door.

Aero headed up to the front door and picked up the blonde toddler, dressed black Mary-Janes, a dark blue denim skirt, bright blue shirt with a dark blue heart on it and matching beanie hat, even her own toy wand, which also happened to be blue.

"Are we goin' to the park, Auntie Aero?" Selena asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." Aero replied.

"Do I get to play on the swings?"

"Wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't."

"And the slide?"

"Sure thing."

The tot grinned and waved her wand excitedly.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" she giggled.

Aero gave a laugh and looked over her shoulder.

"Hold on, we have to wait for Fred." she said.

"FREDDY HURRY UP! I WANNA GO TO THE PARK!" Selena cried, making Aero wince. _"It's alright, didn't need that ear drum..." _the teenager muttered.

"Alright, alright. Merlin, someone's excited." Fred laughed, coming down the stairs.

"She's very excited. Swings, slides, jungle jims, it's a fantasy." Aero told him as he opened the door.

"I used to love going to a muggle playground. They were always so fun." Fred said as they walked down the street, blending in with the crowd of Muggles.

Aero set Selena down and settled for holding her tiny hand as they walked, Selena babbling happily and running at flocks of pigeons.

"She's an energetic one." Fred noted as they watched Selena immediatley move in with a group of Muggle tots at the playground by the swings.

"She's like Shane. He's always moving. Desarie is more calm. Looks like her mum, acts like her dad."

Fred smiled, watching the little girl as they started a game of tag.

"She's adorable. She honestly does love you, Auntie Aero." he teased.

Aero stuck her tongue out.

"I'm glad. I love her to pieces, she's the cutest thing ever. I'm just glad I get to be the wicked godmother, because I honestly think I'd piss myself if I was a mum."

Fred frowned.

"You don't want to be a mum?"

Aero shrugged, keeping her eye on the wandering tot.

"I just don't think I'd be any good at it, you know? I don't know how to handle kids."

"You handle Selena just fine."

"Yeah...with the small stuff. I know that her favorite colors are blue and purple. I know she's afraid of thunderstorms. I know she loves stuffed animals, and she's always tripping. But that's it. I don't know anything else, like what foods she eats, what her bedtime is, if she has any allergies, who her friends are...and if I had to actually take care of her, like Des and Shane, I don't think I could do it. It's a lot harder than it looks. Besides, that may change. I may want to be a mom, you know, but right now, there's so much going on, we're so young...I just don't think having one right now would be a good idea. I'm not saying never, I'm just saying not right now!" she said, saying the last part hastily, seeing the frown on Fred's face.

He relaxed and smiled again, pulling an arm around her shoulders as they sat down on the bench.

"Yeah, I get it. But you have to admit, you're pretty good with her." he said.

Aero shrugged. Truth was, Selena made her nervous. She was always afraid she'd do something wrong, that she would cry or hate her. That terrified her. She was afraid constantly that she'd mess her up just like her parents messed her up. _That's _why she didn't want kids...

"Speaking of having a lot going on..." Fred started.

Aero looked curiously over at him.

"This whole...you being an Auror and being in the Order...you should be able to tell me things. I want to know what's going on. I want to know the dangers, what dangers you're putting yourself in. I want to know...George and I are legal adults, just like you, so why can't we be involved?"

Aero sighed and looked straight ahead again, watching Selena talk with a little brunette girl in a pink dress.

"Because you're still in school."

"So are you." he reminded her.

"I know...but my position with the Ministry...it makes it useful to the Order." she said, looking cautiously around them.

"Why you though?"

"It's not me. It's...the Ministry didn't choose me for my brains or my skills. Sure, being skilled in the dark arts and a metamorph are rare qualities, and eventually when I was older I would be inducted to be an Auror...but it's my name, my heritage, my status that drew the Ministry to me. I'm one of the last direct Blacks, an honorable family within the Ministry. I was taken in by Malfoys. I'm a pureblood, with wealth. So that would look good for them, you know? Back in the day, the Blacks and the Malfoys and all the other Noble Families, they were like Muggle Celebrities. They had power, and the Ministry is power-hungry. So I'm one of the last ones, of course they'd want me. Not to mention...that because of my parents...they'd want to keep an eye one me, you know? They'd want to make it look like that they were finally over the war and the irreparable destruction of it, that the child of a Death Eater could be on the good side, that it was finally a time of peace. I don't know, it's complex and confusing and I'm sure that's only part of it. I'm a pawn in this whole game Fred, nothing more. Harry and Dumbledore, they're the big players. I'm a means to an end. I know that. So it's not _me_...it's my _position_. And I can't tell you and George anything because I've sworn secrecy to Dumbledore. I can't."

Fred was silent for a minute.

"Alright...it's just, I wish ..."

"I know. I'm sorry."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Selena came running over, flushing and grinning.

"I'm hot. And hungry. Can we get something to eat now?" she asked.

Aero smiled again and nodded, grabbing the girl's hand and walking towards the apparration sight, Fred following beside them. When they came to the lamp post a few blocks away Fred grabbed Aero's hand and they apparrated, ending up near Diagon Alley. Aero lifted the toddler into her arms and the walked down the cobblestone streets to one of the Diners, Kooky's Kitchen. They grabbed a table and ordered, Selena demanding chips and chocolate milk, Aero sticking with some Firewhiskey and Fred getting a bowl of soup.

"Chips are good, aren't they, Auntie Aero." Selena said.

"I love chips, Lena."

"Mhhm, they're my favoritest food. They're so yummy. Mummy makes me them all the time. Daddy said that if I keep eating them all the time I'll turn into one. I won't turn into one, will I Auntie Aero?"

Fred snorted into his glass of water and Aero grinned.

"No, Lena. You won't turn into a chip. You eat your vegetables right? Cuz those help. Freddy doesn't eat any, so he'll turn into soup soon." Aero assurred her.

"Oooh. Freddy going to turn into soup?" Selena wondered, her green eyes wide as she stared curiously over at Fred who was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Yes. Freddy is going to turn into soup if he eats to much of it. It's why you've got to eat your vegetables, they cure it. So you really shouldn't argue with your mummy anymore about not eating your veggies."

"Why? Chips are good. It's be so very wicked if I turned into one."

Aero struggled to take a look of seriousness on her face.

"No. You love eating chips, right? Well, you can't eat chips if you turn into one, you know."

Selena frowned.

"Why?"

"Because that would be cannibalism, which is frowned upon." Fred replied.

"Cannybism?" Selena asked.

Aero looked at Fred and they shrugged. "Close enough."

"Yes. A chip can't eat a chip, right? That'd be like me eating you."

"You won't eat me!"

"Course not, cuz that's bad, right?" Aero said.

"Right. Mummy says it's bad to bite people, and if you eat me, you'd have to bite me."

"Right. So a chip can't eat a chip. That's cannibalism. So, if you wanna keep eating chips, you gotta stay human, which means eating veggies. Which means no more fighting with mummy about not eating veggies." Aero declared.

"Oooh. Okay. Waitress! I want some veggies!" Selena cried loudly, waving her little hand in the air.

* * *

Aero sat at the table in the kitchen, looking over some wedding stuff Mrs. Weasley insisted she read in Witch Weekly.

"So, I let you take her our for one day to the _PARK _and she comes back telling me how she's going to eat her veggies so she doesn't committ _cannybism_?"

Aero turned her head to see Desarie leaning against the door, an amused look on her face.

"Well, got the point across didn't it?" Aero shrugged innocently.

"You gave my three year old a lesson on cannibalism."

"Well would you have preferred me to follow in Sirius's footsteps and gotten her drunk?"

"No! No drunk babies. But really..._cannibalism_?"

"You're husband started it."

"How so?"

"He told her if she ate too many chips she'd turn into one. She thought that'd be wicked, so I convinced her otherwise, explaining chips can't eat chips, it's called cannibalsim. And the only way to keep it from happening is to eat veggies, which you told me she refuses to do, so I fixed it."

Desarie shook her head.

"What? Now she has a broader vocabulary and eats her vegetables. She's a lucky kid."

"Well... I suppose I should be happy you kept your flask to yourself." Desarie muttered.

"That's the spirit."

"Hey...Aero?"

"Mhmm?"

"Have you thought about the wedding yet? Mrs. Weasley keeps going on and on about it."

Aero sighed and tilted her chair backwards, staring at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"A bit yeah. I mean, of who I want to be in it and everything...like George is the best man, and Bill, Charlie, Ron and Harry are groomsmen or something. So...for me...I'd have Selena be flower girl. You would be my maid of Honor, Tonks, Ginny, Hermione and Katie would be my bride's maids. And Sirius will give me away."

"I'm the maid of honor? Seriously?" Desarie asked excitedly.

Aero glanced at the older blonde and nodded.

"You're like my older sister, I mean so is Tonks, but you've been closer to me longer. I'm the godmother of you first born. Course you'll be my maid of honor, you twit."

"If I ignore the name-calling, you just made a very sentimental statement."

"So you're just going to ignore my affectionate names? I see how it is."

"Ever the drama queen. Hey, did you pick a date out yet?"

Aero shrugged.

"Not really. We're planning on marrying sometime after school, whenever the war allows it, you know? Taking it as it comes."

"By then a lot of people could be dead...we're heading into war." Desarie said.

Aero looked at her to see she had a somber expression on her face.

"It'll be alright, Dessie. You'll be at my wedding. You're not gunna die, I won't let you."


	13. Chapter 13 Light side has a dark side

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**Hey there guys! I've been meaning to tell you guys, that stupid NOTICE chapter I sent up, I don't know if any of you saw it, I took it down, but if you did, don't pay any attention to it. I've been completely delusional for days now since I've got such a bad fever and little sleep, so I've been off lately. Which explains my last chapter, that one is crap, and I apologize for that. But I'm sorta better now, so hopefully this moment of sanity will last. I haven't updated very much, or at least not very quickly, because life is intervening. I've got midterms, I'm starting to drive, I'm sick and as of today I'm helping out with my cousin's wedding. Has anyone ever had to write out invitations, countless invitations in calligraphy? If you have, I feel for you, truly. But hopefully I'll get better at managing my time, alright? I know most of you probably skipped over this long butt thing, but if you read it, now you know. **

**_-IMPORTANT-_**

**I've started a story with Marauder'sGirlCuzI'mUp2NoGood, it's up, the first two chapters. I'd really like your thoughts on it, so check it out and review?**

**- HoGwArTsHeLlIoNs -**

**

* * *

**

Desarie Lathum had been acting odd, very odd indeed. It was very unnerving for Aero to witness. Desarie was normally the calming voice in the crowd, taking things as they came and whatnot. But lately, she was very morbid. She seemed to think she was on her deathbed.

Aero should've guessed it from their earlier conversation where her sister for intents and purposes mentioned how some people may not be around by the time of the wedding. At the time, Aero brushed it off as nerves, the upcoming war was getting to all of them. Everyone, though they tried their bests to hide it, was edgy. They were tired from rounds and anxious, as if waiting for a swarm of deatheaters to storm their homes. Everyone was anxious.

But a few in particular were more than just anxious. They were truly frightened. Of course, around the others, like Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, they hid it extremely well. Like Mrs. Weasley for example, she was extremely worried all the time, she had lost a considerable amount of weight and become quite pale and jumpy. Even when the twins apparrating everywhere left and right seemed fine with everyone else, she was always alarmed, jumping and flinching horribly. Her eyes were always found looking outside the windows, as if trying to see any suspicious people posing as Muggles out on the streets. She threw herself into cleaning, but the other Order members knew she was just trying to occupy herself with a distraction.

And no one could blame her. She was a mother, and two of her children were becoming active members in the Order, one was naive towards the danger, and the others were going to be leaving her very soon, away from her watchful eyes. Not to mention she had lived through the first war. She knew what was coming, and the fact that her children were fighting in it this time round was enough to frighten any mother. But Mrs. Weasley also knew personally what living through the war was like. She had, after all, had two amazing duellers for little brothers and lost them. She knew that skill alone was not enough for everyone to survive, as Gideon and Fabian had proven. That only served to escalate her constant worry.

But Desarie as well was not doing well. She was brave, no one could deny that. She'd get herself together and be perfectly fine and go out on rounds, watching the department, spying on different people in the Ministry, going out of the country to help members like Charlie recruit. But when she was in Grimmauld place, or at her own home, she was not alright. She was constantly on edge, whipping her wand out at the slightest disturbance, not letting Selena out of her sight, and if she did Selena had to be with Shane or Aero. Desarie trusted no one, she was more quiet than usual, her whole body was tense all the time. And then of course her morbid thoughts. She honestly thought she was going to just up and die, and very soon. She was constantly rearranging the Will. Aero as well as Shane found the whole thing quite disturbing to say the least.

So while Aero now had to worry about her friend's battle with mortality, she was also exhausted from the endless rounds Mad-eye put her on, the stress of finding time to just be with Fred, being baggered by Mrs. Weasley about setting a wedding date and starting to plan things which didn't thrill her, dealing with Sirius's sulleness and his mood swings, preparing the Wolfs Bane for Remus because the moon was coming up, going out on Auror missions, Umbridge's constant survelliance of her, and of course, Harry's trial. She constantly found herself praying the ground would just swallow her up so she wouldn't have to deal with any of it anymore. By this rate she'd have wrinkles by the time she hit twenty.

"Des, are you sure you're alright, love?" Shane asked his wife for the thousandth time as they sat around the table that morning.

"Of course." she replied, the same reply she'd given everytime he asked her.

And then Shane, yet again, sighed and ran a hand tiredly through his hair. This was the routine.

They were all sitting around the table now, waiting for Harry to get up. Aero could feel knots forming in her stomache. Harry's trial was today. Arthur would take him in but he'd be going into the trial alone. She felt horrible. Harry was not a Ministry favorite right now, not since Cedric's death which they refused to believe was done by Voldemort. Fudge would try to tear that kid apart on the stand, he'd do anything to get Harry out of the way right now. Aero found it simply astounding that not too long ago everyone was on his side, he was the Boy Who Lived, a legend, a celebrity, and now at the drop of a hat, they were against him.

Of course, not everyone was against him. She knew there were people out there who had just been waiting for Voldemort's return, knowing that the peace from such a horrible, vile man couldn't last forever. She knew Harry had people on his side. But that wouldn't help him at the Ministry.

"Are you going to the trial?" Sirius asked her.

Aero shrugged, covering her mouth as a yawn shook through her body.

"C'mon, kid. You and I both know you won't stand outside that door, you'll be in there, biting Fudge's head off. You can't stand that man."

"It's not a matter of my extreme distaste for that coward, it's about...I'm under investigation now, thanks to Umbridge. She doesn't trust me."

"And with good reason, you are a spy after all." Bill reminded her with a smile.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't make it any easier. I have to watch what toes I step on now. I step on the wrong ones and I'll find myself with the whole foot jammed up my arse. I can't just barrel in there anymore, defending whoever I please, saying whatever I think and telling anyone I want where to shove it. Umbridge has put quite the restriction on my movement." Aero muttered.

"You're going to let this woman run your life?" Sirius asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

Aero frowned at him.

"You seem to be under the impression, along with several others, that I have unlimited power, that I can do whatever I please and not have any consequences. I may have special preference, being who I am and all, but they'll sooner put me in Azkaban than let me off for telling them Voldemort is back. They don't want to believe it and anyone who does is considered an enemy who must be taken down. I mean, just look at how they've turned on Dumbledore and Harry. That could very well be me, and then I wouldn't be any help to anyone."

It was silent for a few minutes.

"How do you think the trial will turn out?" Tonks asked, her head on her folded arms, her eyes closed.

"Of course they'll let him off, he's done nothing wrong." Mrs. Weasley argued.

"Not necessarily. Fudge has been bending a lot of laws lately, changing them up to fit his needs. He could spin it quite easily against Harry." Kingsley stated.

"Besides, letting Harry off would mean that a Dementor really did attack him for no reason in a Muggle neighborhood, which would look back for the Ministry. They'd either have to say Voldemort is back, they were wrong, have to deal with an upcoming war and everything, or say that someone within the Ministry sent the Dementor out after Harry, which would look bad as well, that the people that are supposed to be protecting us have the power to take our souls out if we oppose them. They'll find every loop hole, do everything in their power to turn this around on Harry." Aero explained.

"So they could really expel him?" Bill asked.

"It's a possibility." Kingsley admitted.

"Nonsense! That's enough talk of nonsense! Dumbledore would never let anything happen to Harry!" Mrs. Weasley cut in, her face flushed.

"Dumbledore? _Dumbledore_? Dumbledore won't let anything happen to Harry...he hasn't even felt the need to go see the kid! Dumbledore will protect Harry...yeah, right." Aero snapped.

"Dumbledore knows what he's doing! He's got Harry's best interests at heart! He'll protect Harry!"

"He can't do bullocks with the Ministry anymore! His name is dung! And how do you know he knows what he's doing? None of us know what he's doing! He doesn't tell anyone anything! It's all secrets with him! Like we can't be trusted! We don't know what he's doing, we don't know anything..." Aero said, a scowl on her face.

It was kind of an unspoken thing among the Order. Dumbledore was the leader of the group, the one who came up with the plans and called the shots...but he told them nothing in return. The topic itself was taboo. Some felt Dumbledore had too many secrets, that they weren't trusted. Some felt blind faith in him, that he always had a reason. The Order was being split down the middle. But they never talked about it.

Aero bit her bottom lip and burried her chin in her arms and glared at a burn mark on the table. She felt pathetic, not being in a position to better help her brother. If she couldn't protect him, that meant she had to rely on Dumbledore to just do it, and she didn't like that. It wasn't that she didn't like Dumbledore, she did, and she did trust him. She had always trusted him. He was Dumbledore, how could you not? But as she got older, and especially when she joined the Order, she couldn't just follow someone on blind faith. This was going to be a time of war, when you couldn't just trust someone because you were supposed to, trust anybody, even Dumbledore. It could get you killed. And she couldn't stand to just blindly follow him when she was risking her life, her freedom, based on his will. But she'd never say that. Not now anyways. Now was not the time to be showing any distrust. They needed to be united, and stand together, otherwise they'd never win. And that irked her all the more.

After a few minutes small side conversations started. Desarie was still sitting there, fiddling with a strand of hair and staring blankly, but instead of out a window, it was at Aero. Aero looked up from where she had buried her head in her arms and frowned at her before staring at the table again, numbly listening to the clinking of dishes and Sirius who was stabbing his potatoes and making little screaching noises, as if he were stabbing actual people.

"Sirius, stop playing with your food." Remus chided.

"I'm not. I'm eating it."

"No. You're stabbing them."

"Well, I have to get them on the fork somehow, Moony."

"You just called that little mashed one over there _Snivellus_."

There was a pause and then Sirius huffed and probably shoved a potatoe in his mouth.

And then the door opened and Aero glanced up to see Harry sit in the empty chair beside her and Sirius.

Mrs. Weasley immediatley descended on him, straightening his shirt and handing him a plate of toast.

"-you'll be fine, Harry. The Law's on your side." Remus said.

Harry wasn't talking. Probably too nervous. She didn't blame him. She was nervous enough for the both of them.

"Don't loose your temper. Be polite and stick to the facts." Sirius said.

"But if they end up sentencing you to Azkaban, atleast get a good hit in, you know? Earn your cell and all." Aero said.

Remus reached over the table and promptly smacked the back of her head.

"Bloody hell, what was that for?" she groaned, rubbing her head.

"_He's not going to Azkaban_."

"Course not. We'd break him out." Bill said.

"Exactly. See? Nothing to worry about." Aero agreed.

Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and two laddles smacked Aero and Bill on their foreheads, both groaned and looked up like whipped puppies at the woman.

"There will be no talk or crimminal activity at this table." she said firmly before wetting Harry's hair and trying to comb it down. Completely impossible.

"Now, Arthur dear, Harry, best be off..." she said quietly, looking very anxious indeed, patting Harry's shoulder.

"You'll do fine, mate." Aero assurred him with a small smile.

Harry nodded at her, attempting to return the completely fake smile and walked out the door with Mr. Weasley. As the door swung shut the room grew quiet again. They'd be on edge until they came back, hopefully baring good news.

* * *

The summer was the most humid one he had felt in quite some time. Outside the air was sticky and thick and hard to breathe. It caused one to sweat unattractively. And yet despite the humidity, the blazing sun and the skyrocketing temperatures, he was cold. So very cold... but he was cold inside, which didn't make any sense to him. And there was this horrendously loud thudding, getting faster and faster. And then his vision kicked in, dark, blurry sights met his eyes, moving fast and he felt as if scenes from this vision had been taken out because everything was choppy. But he could hear a quick muffled hum, like a shriek, and suddenly the pictures moved again and he was in...the room. He was back inthat room, that cold as ice room, where even the summer night heat couldn't penetrate the icy chill that had taken over that room.

And now the vision was fast, the thudding was louder, faster, he felt as if it was impossibly fast, like it would never slow again. The chill was hitting him like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water at him. It was painful. The shouting was frightening. He could feel the air getting harder to breath, the vision seemed to be getting darker, as if he was just shutting off. And something was digging into his arm, and with great energy on his part he looked down to see a slender, pale hand clinging desperately to his. They were both shaking. He looked back up to the battle to see his worst fears coming to life right in front of him.

The blood. The blood that hadn't left the floor. The blood that would stand as a never-ending momento of what had taken place. He watched it seep onto the floor and create a dark, thick pool. And then the crumpled body that had once held so much power caved in on itself and disrupted that pool of crimson. And then she smiled, the crazed look in her eyes as she looked through her now blood stained hair could not be erased from his mind. They had broken her...and now she was gone.

Draco straightened up in his chair, his face pale and his face sweaty and he glanced around himself, alarmed. There was no blood, no chill, no battle. Outside of that room he dared not enter, it was as if nothing had ever happened. It was how their family did things. Everything happened behind closed doors, so that when you stepped outside that door, nothing was wrong and no one could tell the darkness that had just come over them.

"Draco, darling, are you alright?" his mother asked from the doorway, her brow creased in worry.

Draco glanced at her through hazy eyes and hesitated.

"Yes, mother, just had a bad dream is all." he replied.

Narcissa watched him for another moment before nodding her head. She walked over and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before kissing his forehead and departing the parlor room. Draco was frozen, his eyes straying to where she had placed her hand on him, and he saw the vision again, of her hand clinging so tightly to his arm.

No one had said a word since _she _left. His parents refused to speak her name or to acknowledge her at all. It was as if they thought that not talking about her would make him forget. Like it would make him forget that she was the closest thing he had to a sister. That no matter how much he screwed up, no matter how mad he made her, she always forgave him. It didn't matter how much he hurt her, and he knew he had, she always took him back without a word. That he loved her and she him. That...that she was the only one who knew him. The real him. She knew him better than anyone else. He didn't have to pretend around her, or try and earn her love, it just came. He already had it, he always had it. He didn't have to fake anything around her, she took him as he was, all the good and all the bad. She was there. Every time he needed her, she was there. That she knew he didn't want to be a wanker, she knew that. He didn't want to hurt her, he didn't want to ever see her upset or hurt, she knew that. He didn't mean to act the way he did, she knew that. She knew everything. And he was just supposed to forget that.

But the truth was...he didn't want to. He didn't want to forget how it wasn't his mother he went to when he was little and there was a thunderstorm, or when he had a nightmare. It wasn't his father who taught him how to ride a broomstick. It wasn't Crabbe or Goyle who took the blame for him when he broke his mother's favorite vase or spilled something on the new carpet. It wasn't his father who gave gim his first sip of firewhiskey. It wasn't Pansy who made him laugh. It was her. He didn't want to forget that, he didn't want to forget her...

And he couldn't find it within himself to be mad at her. He had been mad when she got into Gryffindor. He had gotten mad when she started dating that Weasley bloke. He had gotten mad when she covered for the Werewolf that attacked her. But he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her for leaving him. She had been hurt one too many times. She needed to leave, to get away from the pain. He knew that. She had been in pain here. She could've left a while ago. He knew that. But she stayed. He never asked her why though, for fear she had somehow forgotten she could and would leave him sooner. She had stayed for some unfathomable reason, suffering in silence form the constant abuse his father unleashed on her. And now he wished he had asked her. He wanted to know. What was so worth her pain?

And now she was gone. She was gone and he didn't know where she was or who she was with or what she was doing. He did know that whatever she was doing it was with Potter, and it was probably dangerous. That's just how she was. He liked to think of her as an adrenaline junkie. She loved the rush that dueling and sneaking gave her. She always had. SHe'd bring him on little adventures when they were younger, like when she insisted on dung-bombing the Minister's house, or when she insisted on taking a night flight with him when she had learned how to ride on her new broom. And of course it was with Potter because that stupid, good-for-nothing tosser spent all that time with her. Like he deserved to go on those adventures with her, deserved to go on flights with her. When he entered the picture it was never the same between them. Potter had taken his place. But when they were at the Manor, just them, it was like old times again. It's why he hadn't wanted her to go. But now she had... and he didn't know if she'd be at school at the end of summer, and if she did go, would she talk to him?

The twist in his gut almost made him want to cry.

Draco looked up from his lap then, as a dark shadow figure fell over the carpet. Draco slowly turned his head and looked at the figure in the doorframe. He was tall, and muscular. His black dress shirt had the sleeves rolled up and on one of his arms...was the dark mark...

Draco whipped his eyes up and finally recognized the man standing there. With a smirk and a dark glimmer to his eyes, the elder wizard spoke in a heavy accent;

_"Vhy, hello Draco. Remember me?" _

_

* * *

_

Aero snapped her head up from her knees, her eyes struggling to forcus on the the images in front of her. She just had a rerun of her disownment. She dreamt of it quiet frequently, it wasn't surprising, however disorienting it always was. But this was not the time to be falling asleep. She looped an arm around her knees again and rested her chin on top as she reached inside her leather jacket pocket and pulled out her flask. It had to be the best present Mad-eye had ever given her.

She currently sat against the wall by the Department of Mysteries, hiding under Harry;s invisibility cloak that she snagged while he was gone. She had been there for an hour now, and with each passing second she grew edgier. It wasn't long before Podmore came to her rescue, under one of Mad-eye's best cloaks, nudging her out of the way and muttering the passcode, dismissing her. He had come because he knew Harry was on trial and she was here.

Aero replied with a quiet thanks, finding a deserted room and taking off the cloak and stuffing it neatly inside her shoulderbag. She hurried out of the room and made the short walk to where she knew Fudge had moved the meeting to. Honestly, he was behaving like a child. Giving a boy a full blown trial on a simple charge of underage magic in front of a muggle? What was the Ministry coming to?

She found the door and leaned against the wall. She knew Dumbledore was in there, pleading Harry's case, and they'd win, because despite her reservations about Dumbledore at the current moment, he was still...the legendary Albus Dumbledore. If anyone could win a fight it would be him.

Aero took another swig of her firewhiskey, feeling it burn her throat on the way down and closed her eyes, leaning against the cold wall. She didn't know how long she had been there but when that door opened she was wide awake, waiting for Harry and suddenly Arthur was by her side without her notice.

"Bloody hell! Don't sneak up on a person!" she said.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you, Aero pet." Mr. Weasley grinned.

Aero gave him an exasperated look, much like the ones she gave Sirius.

"Cough or something next time. Otherwise I won't be held accountable for my actions." she grumbled, waving her wand pointedly. _"Pureblood my ass, more like part ninja, the whole lot of 'em..." _she muttered under her breath, watching the Gamot come out of the room.

And then Dumbledore swooped out of the room, taking no notice of them other than a nod and briskly left. Aero raised her eyebrow in question as she watched his departing form and the sudden she was thrown back by a heavy force and she stumbled before regaining her composure and realized bony arms were wrapped around her.

"You're here? When did you get here? Thank Merlin you're here." a voice murmured in her ear.

Aero smiled slightly and wrapped her own arms around Harry, one hand cradeling the back of his head as she held him.

"Harry? What happened? Dumbledore didn't say...?" Arthur asked quickly.

Aero felt Harry stiffen slightly in her arms when Dumbledore's name came up and she stored that information away for later.

"Cleared of all charges!" Harry announced, pulling back slightly to grin at Arthur.

Aero laughed suddenly and brought Harry in for a bone-crushing hug of her own, the two laughing together as Arthur sighed in relief and wiped the anxiety sweat from his forehead.

As the wizards and witches filed out of the room beside them, Aero saw Fudge and Umbridge pass them. Fudge took care to ignore them but Aero saw Umbridge's appraising look and Aero shoved Harry behind her protectively and sneered at the woman. She saw Arthur go rigid and looked to see a snooty Percy walking by the, nose in the air, his eyes cold. Arthur turned around, talking about getting out of there, and Aero looked an arm around Harry's shoulders. She looked behind her and raised her wand discreetly, silently casting a spell, and Percy shouted behind them, his robes on fire. Arthur glanced quickly behind him to check his son and then gave Aero an appreceative smile before the three departed from the ministry.


	14. Chapter 14 Dealing with Death

**XxX Fred Weasley's Wife XxX** - _Haha, I'm not tellin'. :P You'll just have to wait and see, though I will take suggestions for alternate endings to J.K's, where Fred dies. I'm always open to ideas, so if you want something to happen in this story, feel free to tell me, I'll do my best. _

**fjfjfj - **_It is, in fact, not like that story, but if you truly think it is, than feel free to stop reading my story at any time. Thank you and have a wonderful day._

**T.T24**- _Fred? He's not missing or anything, I assure you. He was just simply...not in that chapter, though Aero did mention him a few times. At the time though, they were getting ready for Harry's trial which happened to be early in the morning, so it's assumed the other characters, Ginny, Hermione Ron and the twins, were sleeping still. The others were all awake due to Order business or to await Harry's trial, like Sirius and Aero were. _

**Aero's little pointer finger** - _why thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. _

**Again, I've started a story, the link will be in my profile, if you guys want to check it out. It's a story between me and Marauder'sGirlCuzI'mUp2NoGood. **

**Oh, and how did you guys like the little peek on the other side of the war? I know it wasn't much, but I'm not just dropping Draco. And you guys all knew who the guy in the door was, with the dark mark, right? **

_

* * *

_

Aero leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, staring worriedly at her friend. Desarie had lost weight recently. She used be completely, undeniably gorgeous, curves in the right places, long shiny golden hair, bright eyes. Now...she looked like she had lost her luster. Her hair was stringy and held up in a messy ponytail, her skin was paler, her eyes were dull, her body thinner, making her look fragile.

"I can feel you there, feel your eyes one me, Aer. Why don't you ask me what's on your mind." Desarie said, continuing to stare at the mug of tea in her hands with a blank expression.

Aero watched her almost wearily as she sat across from her.

"I've tried to. Shane has tried to. Dumbledore has tried to...but you won't say anything. We can't help you if you don't say anything, Des. Let us, let me, help you." Aero pleaded, staring imploringly at the blonde.

A grim smile came to the elder girl's face.

"There's nothing anyone can really do, Aero. I'm just...dealing with the fact that death is apart of our lives. It's what we're facing. I'm just trying to deal with it. You can't make death easier to understand or comprehend or manage."

Aero frowned. She had no idea what was going on through her friend's head anymore. She wasn't acting like herself. Several times she had wondered, thanks to Kingsley planting _that _lovely seed in her head, that Desarie wasn't in fact Desarie. Shane denied it. He insisted she was just going through a rough patch. Dumbledore said that it was expected, that being under so much stress would impact people. Aero said nothing in the topic, but she kept it in mind. She watched what she said and did around Desarie, constantly watched Desarie herself. She felt horrible for it, but she felt she had no choice. Desarie wasn't leaving her any other option.

"What in the name of Morgana are you blabbering on about?" Aero said finally, exasperated.

Desarie looked up and look a picture from the inside of her jacket and slid it across the table in front of Aero. Aero picked it up and noticed it was a photograph, an old one, of a woman with blonde hair, and a man, relatively similar in looks, with brown hair, smiling and waving at the camera.

"Who are they?" Aero asked.

"That's my mother, Anthea and her brother...Benjy Fenwick." Desarie said quietly.

Aero raised an eyebrow in curiousity to this new information.

"Benjy Fenwick was your uncle?"

"Yes...I assume you know what happened to him?"

Aero nodded, staring down at the picture. Benjy Fenwick had been an Order Member, and a damn good one at that. He had died during the summer, probably shortly after this photo. Mad-eye had told her about him during their training time. He had been one of the few to earn Mad-eye's full respect. He had been brutally killed by death eaters, being on the receiving end of a particularly nasty hex that blew him to bits...and then the Death eaters disposed of his remains...the Order only found pieces of him. His family enver got closure, not body to pay their last respects to, to say good-bye to. She never knew about his personal life. And knowing that her friend was his neice, that he had a sister...his death suddenly became all the more real.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Des. I didn't know..."

"It's alright. I found it recently...in some of my mother's old things. I hadn't gone through it since her death but now...I'm in the same position he was, being in the Order. I suppose...call me a coward but I'm a little...shaken up, remembering his death and everything..." she muttered, looking down again, unable to meet Aero's eyes.

Aero sighed, folding her arms over her chest. Now it made sense. Desarie had been fine before...everyone had been fine before. Before they were all just joining a cause, helping out Dumbledore and whatnot. But when missions came, and Dumbledore finally shared intel, things became real. Remembering the first Order made things real. Dumbledore told them they had to prepare for the upcoming war, that things would get worse. Desarie just seemed to be getting a head start. It must be scary to try and imagine yourself in a position, feeling what Benjy felt, trying to understand. There must be all these questions running through her mind. Was he scared? Did it hurt, did he feel the pain? Did he see it coming? What were his last words? His last thoughts? It must be such a painful process.

"You're not a coward, Des, you're human. Death is scary, for everyone. They're liars if they tell you otherwise. I'd be shaken up too, in your position. You know...Molly had two brothers who died in the Order, right around the same time. Gideon and Fabian Prewett... you should talk to her. I bet she'd be able to help." Aero suggested.

Desarie glanced up.

"Gideon and Fabian...those were her brothers?"

"Yep. Two of the strongest members of the Order, her little brothers. Went down fighting. Heroes they were, just like Benjy. She's been a little off kilter as of late as well...maybe you could help her too."

Desarie nodded and stood slowly, picking up her mug and placing the picture back in her jacket. She looked at Aero and gave a half-hearted smile.

"Thanks...I know I've been dificult lately...I know I've been stressing you out because of it...I was just...having a moment of fear I guess." she said quietly.

"No worries. But it if happens again just...tell someone, okay? You don't have to go through it alone, Des." Aero reminded her.

Desarie nodded before leaving the kitchen. A few moments later the door opened and someone sat beside her.

"That was nice of you. I feel awful about her uncle now."

Aero glanced up to see Fred beside her and George looking through the cupboards.

"You were listening in to our conversation?" Aero asked, giving him a stern look.

Fred grinned sheepishly.

"We were coming down for an afternoon snack, not out fault you happened to be talking to someone at the time, and we didn't want to go back upstairs, it'd be a waste of time." he explained.

"But really, she should talk to mum. She's been off lately too, you know? I think it'll do 'em both some good." George said.

"Yeah, I hope so..." Aero muttered.

"Besides, I think talking about Gideon and Fabian will take her mind off of her prat of a son." Fred muttered.

George nodded his head in agreement, a frown on his face.

"So we're still not using his name?" Aero questioned.

"No." the twins replied.

Aero nodded her head and pursed her lips before glancing at Fred out of the corner of her eyes.

"Just because you've brought up the taboo topic of your prat-like brother doesn't mean you've distracted me from the fact that you eaves drop on my conversations." she told him.

"Conversations is plural. I believe this was a conversation...singular, love."

"No no. Let's try to remember those darling little fleshy sonar ears you created. I know what you do with them..." she said, narrowing her eyes.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Fred insisted.

Aero pursed her lips again.

"The next time I see an extendable ear anywhere near me and the vacinity, I'll shove them up your arse." she said before swiftly departing the room.

* * *

"You're a Prefect?" Aero asked again.

"Apparrently." Ron replied.

"Is Dumbledore completely mental?" Aero wondered.

"Ickle Ronnie the Prefect. How...disgusting." Fred said with a grimace.

"Mum's going to be revolting." George agreed.

"She won't be that bad..." Aero said.

"You _have _met our mother, correct?" the twins chorused.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I have, she's a perfectly lovely woman."

Fred and George gave a snort and then the door banged open and Hermione came flying through.

"Did you...did you get..." she started, looking at Harry, spying the badge in his hands.

"Oh I knew it! Me too!" she exclaimed.

"No. No this is Ron's." Harry said, handing the badge back to the horribly puzzled ginger.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Our sentiments exactly." Fred and Aero said.

And hence began the argument between Hermione and Ron. It was only broken when Mrs. Weasley came through the door.

"Ginny's said the book lists have come out. If you give them to me I'll get them for you, Ron." she said idly. "I'll have to get you new pajamas as well, these are too short. What color would you like?"

"Get him red and gold to match his badge." George suggested with a grin.

"His what?"

"His BADGE. His shiny new prefect's badge." Fred explained slowly.

"His...but Ron you're not..."

Ron held up his badge.

"OOh! That's everyone in the family now!" She shrieked, pushing George out of the way to fling her arms around her son.

"What are Fred and I- next door neighbors?" George grumbled, glaring over his mother's shoulder at his little brother.

There was another moment of motherly-smothering, cracks from the twins, an outburst on rules from Hermione and then thw twins and Aero apparrated up the their rooms, or more specifically, the twin's little abode.

"Prefect, can't bloody believe it! Prefect!" Fred fumed.

"He'll turn out just like that judgmental, ugly little backstabbing git!" George cried.

"Aren't you guys being a little over dramatic?" Aero asked as she dropped onto George's bed, leafing through a Quidditch Weekly magazine.

"No. No we're not. This is serious business. Oh Percy will just love this, won't he? I just can't believe it. Where did we go wrong with that boy?" Fred groaned.

"I don't think it's all that bad, Freds. I mean, sure, we never imagined him to be a Prefect, but he probably won't turn out to be a thing like Prat. If I were you, I'd be more worried about Granger..." Aero grinned.

The twins thought for a moment before nodding.

"Suppose you're right...Granger's going to have it out for us..." Fred agreed.

"It'll make it all the more fun. Like a game." George said.

"She honestly thinks she can put us in detention." Fred scoffed.

"Better than she have tried." George replied.

"You two have such an ego..."

"Only because we're just that good." they chorused.

Aero rolled her eyes.

Fred launched himself onto the bed beside her, laying himself on top, his elbows on either side of her head propped him up.

"I can show you just how good I am." he told her with an almost impish grin.

Aero raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'll believe that when I see it." she said.

"NO! Oh ew, just no! Give me some warning before you start that! No. No. No. No. Just no. My eyes, they're actually watering, and I think my ears are bleeding. Are they bleeding? Oh wait, you can't tell because you're so busy sucking each other's faces off. Bloody hell, you two remember you are of the human race and need a certain amount of oxygen right? You're not getting enough air! You're going to have brain damage! I'm not cleaning up your ick when you go all veggie-tales on me! Breathe! Stop laughing! Keep your clothes on! EW public displays! Isn't there a law against this! I don't need these mental images! NO. Stop. Cease and desist. Aero, that is not at _**ALL **_lady like, missy. _No_. Who do you think you are, rabbits? _We don't need to repopulate the planet you know, there's no need to practice so much._ UGH. You're paying for my therapy bills..."

Fred and Aero didn't look up when the door slammed shut.

* * *

"Congratulations to Ron and Hermione - our new prefects." Mrs. Weasley declared over the toast.

"Prefect, eh? Well congratulations. Authority figures always attract trouble but I suppose Dumbledore thinks you can withstand more major jinxes or he wouldn't have appointed you..." Mad-eye growled out.

Ron looked a little paler.

"And that's Mad-eye's pep-talk of the day." Aero muttered as Fred linked their hands together as they got their drinks.

" I never made Prefect myself. My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities." Tonks said thoughtfully.

Aero arched an eyebrow at her. Someone would've had to have been mentally unstable to appoint her cousins, any of them, with badges like that.

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

"Like the ability to behave myself."

Aero and Ginny laughed and Hermione choked on her drink. Tonks had been quite the trouble maker when she was in school. It was a wonder how either one of them became Aurors.

"What about you, Sirius?" Ginny asked.

Now Aero snorted into her Butterbeer. Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"No one would've made me a Prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge." Sirius said with a grin.

"I think Dumbledore might have hoped I could exercise some control over my best friends. I need scarcely say I failed dismally." Remus said with a fond smile.

Aero watched Harry's face brighten. She wondered what was going through his head. Maybe he was just happy hearing stories about his father.

She let got of Fred so he and George could conduct business with Dung and instead stayed close to Mad-eye. She idly picked at a plate of chicken and watched Mad-eye sniff a chicken leg.

"It's not poisoned you know." she told him.

"Never be too careful."

"I was there when Mrs. Weasley made the food, Mads." Aero sighed, making a face.

"It's that kind of mind set that will get you killed, Black."

Aero rolled her eyes. He was so over-dramatic sometimes.

"Mads, take it easy. Some people might start to think you're paranoid." she told him, smiling.

Mad-eye rolled his good eye at her now.

"Stop pestering me before I make you go take out that boggart upstairs." he growled, taking a particularly large bite of chicken which reminded her of a starving dog.

"Now now, there's no reason to threaten, Mads. I'm just creating conversation." she soothed.

"Trying to annoy me is what you're doin' kid. You don't fool me. You spend every moment trying to see how many buttons you can press."

"You're reactions can be quite amusing, I won't lie."

Mad-eye growled and she grinned wider.

Aero watched Mrs. Weasley leave the room, saying she'd take care of the boggart before going to bed.

"Alright, Potter?" Moody growled, making Aero jump a mile in the air.

Aero glanced over at Harry who indeed looked like he was calculating making a break for it.

"Yeah, fine." he said.

Aero raised her head to appraise him.

"Harry, are your pants on fire?" she asked casually.

Harry frowned.

"No, why?"

"Because that's what happens when people lie." she replied.

Harry sighed.

"I hate it when you do that." he grumbled.

"I know. S'why I do it." She grinned.

"C'mere, I've got something that might interest you." Mad-eye said.

Harry walked over and Aero put an arm around his shoulders as he leaned into her to peer at the object in Mad-eye's hands.

"Is that a picture of the First Order?" Aero wondered.

"Yeah."

"And you're carrying that around with you? Oh Mads, that's so touching." Aero teased.

Mad-eye rolled his eye.

"Found it last night when I was searchin' for my invisibility cloak, since Podmore hasn't got the decency to return my best one. Thought people might like to see it." Mad-eye told her.

"Oh well that's so much less heart-warming."

They ran along the other list of names, Marlene McKinnon, Longbottoms, Dorcas Meadows, Benjy Fenwick, the Prewett Brothers.

"And this here is Lupin, obvisouly. Diggle, forgot he wore that stupid hat, Daelyn Toriello, Aberforth Dumbledore, only time I ever met him, strange bloke, Garrett Bell, Sirius, and ah there, thought that would interest you!" Mad-eye said.

It was the Potters, beaming up at them, standing unknowingly next to Pettigrew. Harry grew a little paler.

"Ah, great. Listen, I've forgot to pack-" Harry started.

"What's that you've got there, Mad-eye?" Sirius wondered, walking over to them.

Aero watched anxiously as Harry darted from the room. She wondered if he was really alright.

"Old photograph, eh? Blimey, look at everyone. They're all so young." Remus murmured.

"And alive." Sirius muttered, a dark tone in his voice.

"Sirius, don't look like such a sour puss, you're at a party." Aero chided him.

She knew it had to be hard though. Most of these people were dead, including his two best friends. It couldn't be easy doing this all over again, this time with their kid, and then looking at a picture of them, so unknowning and naive. It must be painful.

"_Ridikulous_!" a voice cried from upstairs.

"What was that?" Remus asked.

"Molly's upstairs. Bogart. Harry's with her." Mad-eye growled before stomping out of the room.

Sirius, Remus and Aero followed him quickly up the stairs and found Mrs. Weasley sobbing in a corner, Hasrry standing beside her and two figures laid out on the floor. Aero's eyes widened and she felt her chest tighten as she saw the sprwaled figures of herself and...Harry. His eyes were open, green and dull, his glasses askew and his skin ghostly pale. She couldn't even look at herself, she just saw Harry...dead and cold on the floor. And image that would haunt her nightmares after this.

After Lupin managed to calm her down, they all left teh room. Aero watched as Harry dashed away and up to his room and listened to his door slamming. She bid the others good-night, kissing Sirius and Remus on the cheek, and slowly followed Harry's path. Whatever was up with him, he was failing miserably at hiding it. Something was wrong and she wanted to know. She'd ask him tomorrow. Right now she just needed to check on him.

She opened the door a crack and stepped into the dark room.

"Harry? You alright?" she asked softly.

"Fine..."

"Harry, I know something's wrong." she said.

"Nothing is wrong."

"Harry. Stop lying. I can't help you if you don't tell me." she said.

_Why did she feel like she'd said that one before?_

"There's nothing wrong. Honestly." he grumbled.

Aero sighed and folded her arms against her chest.

"_Harry_-"

"I said everything was fine! Stop asking! Nothing's bloody wrong! I'm fine! I don't want to talk about! Okay?" he shouted, sitting bolt up in bed, anger clearly written on his face, a fire blazing in his eyes, even in the dark.

Aero nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. This was sounding much like the tone he had used when he first got here, that angry voice she had never heard him use before when he shouted at Hermione and Ron. She took another deep breath. He didn't mean it. He was just angry...he was very angry. But not at her. She knew that. Just...angry. She nodded again.

"Alright. Just coming to check on you is all. Sweet dreams, little brother." she said quietly before closing the door softly behind her.

It was then she knew that Harry, in fact, was most definatley **_not _**alright.

* * *

Aero had awoken with a start that morning. Mrs. Weasley, combined with the screeching of her Great-Aunt Walburga, was not the alarm she was sure she had set last night. She dressed quickly, packed the last few items in her trunk, grabbed Tybalt who hissed madly at her, and hurried down the stairs, just missing the trunks zooming past her and straight into Ginny who feel two flights of stairs and sat dazedly on the floor, her mother screaching louder and louder at the apologizing twins as she mended her daughter. It was quite the hectic morning.

She saw Lupin and Mad-eye talking seriously in the corner as she navigated through the throng of trunks on the floor, helping Tonks up from the pile and shoved her out the door.

"Alright Ginny?" Aero asked.

"Oh yeah..." Ginny replied lightly, smiling.

"We said we were sorry!" the twins shouted.

"COULD'VE KILLED HER!"

"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS AND BLOODS TRAITORS ALIKE!"

Aero put her hands over her ears. This was much too much noise so early in the morning.

A hand wrapped itself around her upper arm and she was hauled over piles of trunks and brought to a corner in the corridor. She huffed and blew hair out of her face as she looked up at Sirius.

"You know, you could try _'Aero could I speak with you a moment' _or maybe even a _'good morning' _instead of almost making me break a leg." she grumbled, straightening herself up.

"Sorry. But I have something for you."

"Oh? Like what?" she asked.

Sirius pulled out a clothed object and handed it to her.

"Don't open it yet. But if you ever need me, use this." Sirius told her.

Aero nodded and pocketed it in her leather jacket. She stared up at Sirius. She was going to miss him an awful lot. They had sort of...bonded after she was disowned. He was the only one who really understood what went on in her head. And now she had to leave him.

Sirius gave her a half-hearted smile and pulled her into a tight hug, resting his chin on her head and placing a kiss there.

"Have fun at school. Cause lots of mischief, give your teachers grey hairs, humiliate some Slytherins for me." he said.

"_Don't_. Learn lots, pay attention, be careful, don't get into _too _much trouble." Remus said, giving a chiding look to Sirius.

"Oh, and no fornicating in any broom closets." Sirius warned, narrowing his eyes.

Aero laughed. Honestly, these were her parents. She often wondered which one was the mother in this relationship...

"Yes, mum, yes dad." she replied.

"Cheeky brat." they said together with grins.

After a few minutes though Aero noticed Sirius had disappearred. But then her confusion was short lasted...

"OH FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE SIRIUS, DUMBLEDORE SAID NO!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

A great black dog was bounding over trunks, wagging his tail. Aero smiled. Of course Sirius would come to see them off.

"Oh, on your own head be it..." Mrs. Weasley groaned before herding them all out the door.

Sirius had never looked so free in her opinion. He was wagging his tail, bounding after birds and scaring cats, making Harry laugh.

It didn't take all that long to reach King's Cross and get onto the platform. Sirius was by her side, wagging his tail and looking around happily. Aero figured this was probably a place of good memories for him.

"Cool dog, Harry!" Lee shouted.

"Thanks." Harry said with a smile.

Mrs. Weasley started going around to all the kids, giving them hugs, and Harry turned sheepishly to Aero.

"Aer...about last night, I didn't mean to go off on you..." he said.

Aero held up a hand.

"No blood no foul. I know, you were upset. It's alright, really Harry. I can take your outbursts." she soothed him.

And then it was their turn and they hugged Mrs. Weasley, more than once actually. Sirius bounded up and licked Aero's cheek and than placed his front paws on Harry's shoulders for a moment before Mrs. Weasley shoved them towards the train hissing _"for heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!"_

They climbed on the train and looked out the windows as they started moving, everyone laughing as the great black dog chased the train. They waved goodbye and then the dog vanished around the corner.

Aero sighed and smiled slightly. She was finally going back to Hogwarts...


	15. Chapter 15 London Bridge

They strode to the Gryffindor table with an air of confidence about them. It wasn't unusual really. The twins were always confident, having a certain swagger to their step. And so did Ginny, who gave a wink to...was that Dean Thomas? Aero rolled her eyes. She sat down at the table and Katie sat beside her, bumping Angelina out of the way. This time Alicia rolled her eyes.

Apparrently, Aero never noticed the lack of friendliness between Angelina and Katie ever since the whole backstabbing-bestfriend-stealing-ex-boyfriend incident. Aero, herself, had tried to convince herself that her and Angelina were on good terms again, what with her and George kinda-sorta dating but not really dating-dating and she was back with Fred, but it wasn't the same as how it used to be. They were tense and awkward and conversation was forced, but they were civil and Angelina even looked a little guilty from time to time.

Katie and Angelina on the otherhand...Katie seemed like a ticking time-bomb around their new Quidditch Captain. She practically spit daggers at her through her eyes. Now Aero herself, according to Fred, could give one hell of a sharp stop-you-in-your-tracks-and-make-your-mother-pee-herself kind of look, but even she cringed slightly when Katie would give one to Angelina. Katie had the look down pat, so that not only was Angelina flinching and looking for the onslaught of curses waiting to come, but everyone else in the vicinity was as well.

"Katie, _stop it_." Alicia muttered, scowling at the blonde.

Katie pursed her lips and shrugged casually, folding her arms tightly against her chest. Alicia sighed and shook her head.

"Did I miss something?" Aero wondered.

"Nothing." all three answered at the same time.

Aero arched an eyebrow.

"_Yeah_...because I totally buy that one. What? Did you guys rehearse that? Your timing was perfect." she said sarcastically.

Katie grinned at Aero and sneered in Angelina's direction.

"What the bloody _fuck _happened?" Aero asked, exasperated.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Alicia advised.

Angelina stared blankly down at the table.

Aero jumped in her seat when Fred dumped himself on her other side, kissing her cheek.

"Why hello there." he grinned.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"You're so cheesy." she remarked.

"Well, I happen to love cheese, it's _delicious_."

"...I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of commenting."

"You're no fun."

Aero made a face at him before turning back to her friends and frowned. Angelina was looking at Fred from across the table, her chip propper up in her hand, like one does while day dreaming. Aero's eye narrowed and her frown turned into a scowl. That utter cow...

"Still with us there, Angie?" Aero asked, trying to sound casual, but the pointed glare she sent her old best friend was anything but.

Angie blinked and looked up quickly and found herself unable to meet Aero's gaze. She looked down at the table and nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. Just a bit...tired, is all." she replied quietly.

"Oh? Have a nice dream then?" Katie asked, not even pretending that everything was fine as she looked upon the girl with complete and utter disgust.

"Yeah."

"Good. I hope so. Because for some people...dreams are the only place where they can get what they want." Aero told her before turning her attention to the staff table.

"Am I missing something?" Fred asked.

"Absolutely nothing, Fredster." Katie said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Fred, they're girls. It's times like these when it's best not to get involved, mate." Lee told him.

"Yeah, mate. They're problems are so much more...complex." George agreed.

"Excuse me?" Alicia asked, clearly offended.

"I just meant that you girls...you're more, 'go behind the back and scheme' whereas us men are I have a problem, I'll give you a good hexing and everything is over and done with. You girls like to plan it out. Besides, you're much too emotional. That makes it all complicated because you worry about other people's feelings and bullocks." George explained.

Angelina frowned at him.

"We do not make it complicated. And maybe you can't scheme and such because you don't have the necessary number of brain cells to actually plan anything of worth."

The rest of the girls snorted. Now George looked offended.

"Excuse me, madam, was that an insult to my intelligence?" he squaked, hand over his heart.

"If you honestly have to ask, I rest my case."

"Mate, I believe that is what is called a _buuuuurn_!" Lee cried brightly.

Fred laughed as his twin whipped out his wand.

"I'll show you a burn!"

Lee effectively ducked and continued laughing. When Fred gave a loud laugh at his brother's antics George spun on him, shoving his wand in his face.

"Get that thing out of my face." Fred said.

"It's not in your face, it's in my hand."

"Fine then. Get what's in your hand out of my face!"

"_Boys_...honestly, they're like children. Remind me why we shouldn't all just be lesbians?" Alicia asked as she watched the boys bicker back and forth.

"Because, I'm not going to go out and buy some overpriced, unnaturally colored dick-bot when I have a perfectly excellent selection all around me, ready for the picking." Katie replied.

Aero stared blankly at her friend.

"Ever the blunt one." she muttered.

"Don't you have a boyfriend already?" Alicia asked.

"And please, from what we've heard from you, his name means _something_." Angelina scoffed.

Katie rolled her eyes.

"Oliver and I aren't officially dating, ladies. We're free to see other people. Honestly, I'm not committing some federal crime here. I'm simply just browsing."

"Don't make it sound like you're flipping through a catalog for new shoes! Have some _decency_." Alicia said, staring wide eyed at her friend.

"Katie hasn't had any decency since she was fifteen." Aero sniggered.

Alicia's eyes widened further.

"Aero, obviously we're polluting a virgin mind here, try to tone it down, keep it PG." Katie laughed.

"Wait, you're still a...?" Angelina asked, turning to Alicia, shocked.

Honestly, by this time, not that Aero encouraged it, but most girls in their year had...well...she just sort of figured Alicia had as well.

"It's not a bad thing if you haven't, Ali! Angelina, stop freaking her out. It's fine." Aero assurred the blushing brunette.

"So you've all...?" Alicia wondered, still blushing furiously.

Katie and Aero shared a look.

"The Yule Ball." Aero replied, unable to not cast a smug look in Angelina's direction.

"When I was fifteen...in the Gryffindor locker room." Katie said.

"WAIT, so when we sent you to go find Wood after Harry fell off his broom...?" Alicia sputtered.

Katie shrugged, unabashed.

"He needed a pick-me-up, and I was more than willing to help." she said.

Aero laughed at Katie's boldness.

"So wait...your first time was the night of the Yule Ball?" Angelina asked her, uncomfortably intense.

Aero frowned, looking at her friend. Why was she so interested? Oh...because she and Fred had still been together at the time.

"Yeah...that was both our first times." Aero said, uncomfortable.

Sure, she didn't feel bad about taking back her boyfriend, since Angelina had so wrongly taken him, even if they had been technically broken up at the time. But really, Angelina had been her best friend, and that meant alot considering Aero didn't easily let people in, like she had Angelina, who just up and betrayed her. Best friend dating the ex-boyfriend, especially when the break up was still so fresh was a complete no-no. But she did feel bad about sleeping with her friend's boyfriend on the night of the ball...even given the circumstances.

An odd looked passed over Angelina's face and Aero couldn't place it.

"_Oh_. Well then..." Angelina muttered, giving Aero a small smile before turning her attention to the boys, who were still squabling and lost in their own little world.

Aero turned to give a questioning glance at Katie who shrugged stiffly, her eyes hard as they watched Angelina over Aero's shoulder. Alicia almost seemed exasperated between Angelina and Katie and shook her head at them before pausing to frown at the staff table.

"Where's Hagrid?" she wondered.

Katie looked away from Angelina and towards the table, searching for the large, lovable giant. Aero looked knowingly at the seat that Professor Grubby-Plank now occupied.

"Hagrid is bust, that's all." she said quietly.

"Busy?" Katie wondered.

Aero looked around them, making sure no one was within ear shot and leaned forward towards them.

"Remember how I told you both earlier, in the compartment, that something big was going on? That is was of the upmost secrecy?" she said.

"Yeah."

"Well, Hagrid is going to be away for a little - _I don't know how long and can't say why_ - but he's fine. That's all I can tell you. I'd tell you if he wasn't." she assurred them.

Alicia looked mollified but Katie didn't. Aero knew Katie was curious and she hated to be left out of things, but if Aero asked her to, she wouldn't press for more information. It was one of the things Aero had grown to like about the blonde. She could be the most meddlesome person, but she knew when to back off. Ever since Angelina and her had broken off, Aero found herself growing closer to Katie, who had become some sort of a ...protector of sorts. She had defended her against Angelina last year and encouraged her to get Fred back and listened when she had to vent. Aero found Katie was almost...replacing the stinging, gaping whole in her chest left in the wake of Angelina's betrayal.

"And...who's _that_?" Katie asked, giving a mocking laugh at said person.

Aero followed her gaze and felt her eyes widen to the size of the Hogwarts dining plates. Sitting besides Dumbledore was a small, plump woman with a sickly sweet smile and dressed completey in pink.

"_Delores Umbridge_." Aero hissed.

Katie and Alicia turned to stare questioningly at her.

"Who's london bridge?" Katie asked.

"Not London bridge, you bint, honestly. She said Umbridge. I heard about her, from my cousin, Anniston in the Ministry. Said she's a right little vicious woman." Alicia said, looking anxiously at Umbridge.

Katie stared hard at Aero, whose face was pale and her eyes hard as she watched the woman. Katie frowned and her eyes narrowed.

"What did that bitch do to you?" Katie demanded.

"Kate, what are you talking about? Aero never said anything other than her name." Alicia said.

"Look at her face! She's obviously met the woman before, and I can tell it wasn't a good first impression." Katie said angrily.

Aero shook her head.

"She's a right bitch, I'll tell you that much. Tried to pass a Anti-Werewolf legislation a few years back."

Alicia gasped. Lupin had been her favorite teacher by far.

"Oh no, Professor Lupin! That _stupid cow_!" she cried.

Katie raised an eyebrow in surprise as she stared at her friend.

"Ali, keep your panties on. I'm sure Lupin's fine, otherwise London Bridge wouldn't have even made it up to the table and we'd be reading her obituary in the Prophet." Katie reasoned.

"She works for Fudge. She's put me under investigation." Aero muttered darkly.

"Investigation?" they chorused.

"Why you?" Alicia wondered.

"She thinks I'm hiding Sirius. Not to mention that since Harry and Professor D aren't on the Ministry's buddy list, and I'm friends with them...well she's going to try to take me down."

Katie swore colorfully and gained a smack across the back of her head from Alicia.

"Well...that bitch has no idea who she's messing with. If she thinks she can take you down, she's in for a rude awakening." Katie said lowly, her eyes glued to the unsuspecting Umbridge.

"I have to agree. Though I don't condone any violent tactics, we'll keep an eye on our new professor as of now." Alicia agreed.

Aero looked between her friends, awed. They didn't even know the half of her problems with Umbridge and yet...they were on the defensive. For her.

When she felt Fred's hand lace with hers, a worried expression on his face, she smiled, a real smile, for the first time since last year. As Dumbledore rose to his feet to make his usual Feast Speech, Aero leaned back into Fred, completely oblivious to the scowl now on Angelina's.

* * *

The dorm room looked much the same. Katie took over the bed beside Aero's, originally Angelina's bed. Aero shuffled inside her trunk until she found her poster, putting it up beside her and Katie's beds.

Falmouth Falcons Quidditch team, known for its hard play and its violent beaters.

_"let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads. _There's a great motto, no wonder you and the twins play so hard out on the field." Alicia muttered from where she was putting up her poster of the HolyHead Harpies.

"Best motto there is, Ali." Katie sighed, standing back and watching the poster, where the team stood proudly in their colors, their motto waving under them.

"Kevin Broadmoore is so fit." she said dreamily.

"His brother is just as fit, you twit." Aero laughed.

Katie shook her head, brushing off the thought.

"Nope. Nope, nope. Kevin's more angry than Karl. Angry is hot. He makes it hot."

Aero sighed and rolled her eyes, shooing Tybalt off her bed, who left with a hiss, and she smoothed the sheets out.

She put up some pictures on her nightstand, and her Magazines in her drawer.

"It's so good to be back, isn't it?" Alicia said happily as she organized her books.

"Wonderful, Ali. I can't wait to get a look at the boys this year." Katie replied.

"Again. _You have a boyfriend_. You're such a bitch." Alicia said with a smile.

"And as I told you, dear Alicia, we're in an _open relationship_. I know that one with such inexperience as yourself wouldn't comprehend such an adult term but-**_oof_**!" Aero had slammed a pillow down on the blonde's face, effectively cutting off her sure to be long and condecending speech about sex.

She pointedly looked over at Alicia with a grin. The brunette was blushing furiously, looking scandalized.

"Aw, Alicia. Don't get so worked up." Angelina soothed.

"Yeah. I mean, you're not the only Nun in this room. Take a look at Angelina. Girl hasn't had a boyfriend who shagged her either." Katie pointed out, a sarcastic smile on her face.

Angelina stiffened as she bent over her trunk, searching for teh quill she dropped and turned to face them.

"Not exactly."

Katie and Aero looked at each other and then back at their room mate.

"Who did you find that was so far out of their fucking mind to shag you?" Katie exclaimed, staring at Angelina up and down, as if searching for something shaggable.

"_Katie_!" Alicia shrieked, appalled.

"It's none of your fucking business, Katie, so butt the fuck out!" Angelina shouted.

Katie leaned back as if slapped and stared at Angelina, shocked.

"Oh, I think you and I both know that depending on who you shagged it is definatley my business, you backstabbing _whore_." she said coldly.

"Can someone fill the rest of us in please?" Aero cried, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"I'm the whore? Really? I'm not the one who shagged the piss out of Vaine the same night he took Aero to the ball!" Angelina cried.

Aero raised her brows, shocked at that little tidbit of information.

"Like she cares! She didn't even like Vaine! I'd never shag someone she liked! You know why? Because I'm her friend and I have the willpower to keep my legs closed! I don't shag people just because they want to! Unlike you, you weak, pathetica little bint!" Katie shrieked.

Angelina gave an angry cry and stormed from teh room. A silence filled in around them and Alicia murmured something about making sure Angelina wasn't scaring any first years and left the room, closing teh door behind her.

Katie stood, standing in the middle of the room. Aero sat down on her bed, laying down across it and hanging her head off the side, facing Katie's bed upside down.

"So...you fucked my date, huh?" she asked casually.

Katie sighed and went to her bed, laying in the same position, and they stared at each other for a moment upside down.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd mind. I knew you'd gone off with Fred, and I could see that power shaggin' coming from a mile away, so...I mean Oliver wasn't there and ..."

"It's alright, you know. I didn't like him like that, you're right. I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?"

Aero smiled.

"No, I'm not. Besides, I'm quite sure you're not the only one he...got to know, while we were together."

Katie laughed.

"I heard he got rather friendly with Amilda Shance in Ravenclaw."

"What a dirty bird." Aero laughed.

After a moment Aero looked back at Katie.

"What were you talking about, with Angelina? Who did she shag?" Aero asked quietly.

"I don't know for sure, but I have my suspicions. And until I know for sure...I'd rather not have to tell you." Katie said, equally as softly.

"Is it bad?"

Katie grabbed her hand, linking their fingers together and giving her a squeeze, a soft smile on her face.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about Angelina, Aer. Let me handle her, alright? We need to focus on London Bridges and how _we're _going to take _her _down."


	16. Chapter 16 We're done!

**I figured I'd add some drama, you know, make them more teenagerish. Because I feel like Aero is drifting a little, like she's not a teenager, but she is, she's just under enormous stress. Alright, I want you guys to try and pay attention to Aero for the next SEVERAL chapters, otherwise you'll all be blindsighted and I hate when that happens to me and then I have to go back and reread and be like "oooh, now it makes sense". It's kind of a slow process, so don't worry, but still, pay attention. I know that's vague but... **

**Oh, and about Fred/Angelina/Aero...calm down. Haha, everything will be fine. Calm down. _Breathe_. They're teenagers...things happen. I'm not saying that what you're all saying happened, but even if it did, they'll find some way to work it out, I mean, don't they always? But I loved the reactions :) **

**Thanks for the reviews! You're all very passionate about this topic haha. **

* * *

It had only been a few days since the beginning of term. Things were very tense in the girl's dorm room, thanks to Katie and Angelina's little spat, so Aero preferred different sleeping arrangements.

"I appreaciate your sudden control to not rip one another's clothing off in front of innocent eyes." George muttered as Aero and Fred stepped out from the steaming bathroom together.

"Well, you're welcome, Georgie. Didn't want you seeing my fiance's beautiful, shapely, gor-_OW_."

Aero rolled her eyes as Fred rubbed the back of his head, frowning at her despite the amusing twinkle in his eyes. She didn't like when someone walked in on them either. It wasn't that it made her uncomfortable, per say, but it made things just a _little _awkward afterwards. Especially when that person was her fiance's twin.

Aero walked to the fire-place, which technically broke _some _school rules to conjure, in the corner of the room holding the three boiling cauldrons. She was glad the twins were so good at charms, otherwise the expansion charm on this room wouldn't have worked and they'd be squashed by the amount of experiments going on. They were still completely adamant about starting a joke shop, and thanks to Harry, had all the funds to do so. Originally Aero had planned to help out, but since she was cut off from her inheritance via the Malfoys request, she didn't have that much to go on. She could enter Sirius's vault and her parent's vault and only because she was their only heir and Sirius had left everything to her fund wise before his imprisonment.

"What are in those exactly?" she asked as she stepped over the numerous note papers on the floor to get to Fred's bed.

"We're trying out different ingredients to find the antidote to the nosebleed nougat." Lee explained as he tried to untangle some of his knotted hair.

Aero nodded and searched around the nightstand top for her wand, shuffling through Quidditch magazines and more stacks of notes until she found it.

"So how long do you think the girls will be fighting?" George wondered.

"Aw, trying to get rid of me already?" Aero pouted.

George rolled his eyes.

"Course. That's my concern, wondering when you get out of here. I was just wondering when you think they'll both be...alright again?"

Aero sighed.

"I have no idea. A day, a week, never? Katie's really pissed off about this, whatever it is, and Angelina is on the defensive."

"Maybe we should owl Wood? Maybe he could talk to Katie? I mean, we have a Quidditch meet this friday and everything..." Fred said.

"No. It would not be a good idea to contact Wood. He's got his own problems right now, dealing with Quidditch, and Katie would be furious. They'll work this out on their own and if they don't...well they won't let it come between the team." Aero assurred them.

George shared a doubting look with Fred and Lee looked mildly disappointed.

"So I won't get to commentate on a sudden bird fight?" he pouted.

Aero gave him a look and threw one of Fred's shoes at him.

* * *

Fred picked at on of the rubber bands on her wrist again, letting it slap back down, as he had done hundreds of times during the span of the whole class. Aero was leaned on the back legs of her chair, staring blankly at the pink toad in front of her who paced back and forth in front of the class, lecturing them on how important it was that they passed their N.E.W.T.s.

"What a _crock_." George muttered from where he sat, his head buried in his arms.

"How long you think she'll make it?" Katie asked out the side of her mouth, looking slightly amused as Umbridge waved her stubby ringed hands around.

"I give her a month." Alicia replied.

"Nah, looking like that? She's a tough cookie." Lee disagreed.

"How so?" Alicia wondered.

"Look at her. It's one of those faces only a mother could love." he whispered.

"If she wasn't tough, she never would have made it past her first year looking like that..." Aero sniggered.

"_Hem hem_." With a pointed look from Umbridge they quited down.

"There will be no need to talk." she told them.

"Then how else are we going to talk about her behind her back?" Fred smirked.

"Got any paper?" Aero asked, looking over at him.

"She'll last about...three months." Lee bet.

Aero frowned an looked over her new professor.

"She won't make the whole year, I know _that_. We'll chase her off by then." she decided.

"With all the wedding plans, Auror plans and joke shops stuff? Where will you ever find the time?" Katie teased.

"I'll take that bet." the twins muttered.

They all slapped hands, agreeing with their waggers.

"_Hem hem_."

Aero and Katie shared a look and fought the temptation to roll their eyes.

"I swear, she coughs at me one more time..." Katie threatened.

"And we'll grow horns out of her head." Aero agreed. "Show her _inner _beauty."

Fred and George coughed laughs into their hands.

"And you wonder why I try not to set her off, Georgie, _honestly_."

"Mhm. You and Wood are lucky men." George told him.

"Damn straight." Aero and Katie chorused.

Fred smirked and slid his chair over, lying his head on Aero's shoulder as she watched Umbridge continued bobbing around the room. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her against the side of his own body, molding her against him and she smirked, keeping her eyes trained on the new professor. His hand lifted up the bottom of her shirt and his fingers skillfully danced across the skin there, feeling her stomach muscles tightened under them, making him grin. He played with the belly ring her found until his hand moved downward, over her pleated black skirt that she had so teasingly hemmed shorter, and down to her exsposed leg.

Aero quickly flicked her eyes down to his wandering hand and then to the buldge in his pants to Umbridge who was still completely oblivious to the obvious boredom of all her students. Fred's hand moved under her skirt and she opened her legs slightly. Nothing would amuse her more than knowing she could so blatantly rebel against Delores Umbridge, who surely disagreed with her relationship to the bloodtraitor whose hand was currently playing up her leg.

Fred nuzzled his face against the crook of her neck and bit down, causing Aero to bite her lip to hold in her sounds. He licked the sore spot and gave it a last nip before his hand finally reached his destination and she smirked when she felt his breath hitch on her neck.

"_Where the fuck are your panties_?" he breathed.

"Didn't have any in your room." she replied quietly.

Fred smothered his groan in her neck. Aero shuddered as his finger slid against her clit, and her hands gripped the bottom of her seat. His slid his finger inside without warning and Aero bit her tongue. She wouldn't make a sound.

Fred grinned as she squirmed, just ever so slightly, in her seat. He pumped steadily in and out of her, his thumb twirling the little bundle of nerves. His free hand rubbed soothing circles on her trembling thighs. He was thankful for the desk in front of them and his fiance's amazing skill to keep her composure. He added another curled his fingers and one of Aero's hands gripped his wrist, her nails digging into his skin, sure to leave a mark yet he couldn't care. His pace increased and he turned his head into her should, biting hard on the juncture between her neck and shoulder. Aero's head tilted to her side, her eyes lidded and glassy, her mouth slightly parted and her legs trembling. He curled his fingers again and added yet another finger to the group and Aero swore under her breath, cursing so colorfully Fred was sure a sailer would blush.

Fred removed his hand from her skirt as Aero slid slightly in her seat and flicked his wand under the desk, cleaning them both up before taking her hand, her knuckles finally regaining color, and linked their fingers together, a smug grin on his face. Aero rolled her eyes to look at him and raised an eyebrow, catching his eye.

"You're going to pay for that one." she muttered.

Fred's grin widened.

"I sure hope so."

"_Hem hem_"

Aero tilted her head to regard her teacher calmly. Umbridge stood before her, and Aero felt sick, looking at this woman who pretened to be so sweet it was sickening. It was just sugar on her evil interior.

"Yes, Professor?" Fred asked.

"I have asked this corner of students many times to refrain from talking now. I have important things to say." she replied sweetly, with a little giggle at the end.

"Oh, do you? Sorry, I didn't listen. Really,_ my bad_." Aero said, just a touch of condescending in her tone.

"Yes, Ms. Black, you are, I'm afraid, very bad indeed." Umbridge said, looking down at the teen with barely covered distain.

Aero raised an eyebrow challengingly. If this bitch wanted to play...

"Do not speak to me in such a way again. Ones who are below in the scale of life should know their place." Umbridge said.

Katie's mouth dropped open in plain shock, and a violent blush of red stormed up Fred's throat.

As Umbridge began to walk away, Aero replied with a casual "Yes, _you should_."

Umbridge froze and turned around slowly, clearly struggling to keep the cheerful expression on her face.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. Do you need a hearing-aid as well as a cough drop, Professor?" she asked innocently.

The bell chimed and Aero gave her new teacher a patronizing smile laced with venom.

"I'm sure you and I will have all sorts of fun this year, Professor." she said before taking Fred's hand and swiftly leaving the classroom.

* * *

Aero almost leaped into the air like a Ballerina when Angelina flew into the room, the door mashing against the wall, her eyes furious and her whips of beaded hair flying around her like she was Medusa incarnated.

Katie looked midly interested as she watched their dormmate over the top of her Witch Weekly Magazine. Alicia had completely fallen off the edge of her bed she had been sitting on to tie her shoes, staring worriedly up from the floor.

"Everything alright, Angie?" Alicia asked timidly.

"No it is bloody not alright! Harry blood Potter has gotten himself detention! I wanted the whole team to practice together, see how the new players work and now he's not going to be there!" Angelina shouted, throwing a History book across the room, making Alicia shriek in surprise.

"I'm gunna go find that tosser and give him an ear full!"

"No you bloody well will not, Johnson, sit your ass down." Aero sighed, waving her wand Angelina flew onto her bed, glaring over at her.

Aero stood and closed the door, turning to face Angelina.

"Now calmly explain what happened."

"Potter shouted at Umbridge, called her a liar, said you-know-who is back and Cedric was murdered." Angelina muttered, her eyes still narrowed.

Aero was shocked. Harry had been loosing his temper alot lately, even with Hermione and Ron. But he'd never really blown up at a Professor before, and he knew Umbridge was from the Ministry...and he talked about Cedric. That really shocked her. Cedric was a taboo topic with her brother, she knew his death still haunted him when he closed his eyes. So for him to even mention him...he was really angry. She felt a surge of protection she normally felt for Harry stir and wanted to strangle Umbridge for so horribly upsetting him. But she couldn't...she shouldn't have even lost her own cool in class. Umbridge had her under investigation, it she wasn't careful some serious damage could be done. And that made her angrier, that she, for teh frist time, couldn't defend her brother.

But if push came to shove, screw her career, she'd rather be on the run than let the Ministry mess with Harry...

"Did he? Well now, it seems that I'll be the one talking to him, not you." Aero said.

"Oh please. You won't ever yell at him, let him have it. You coddle him! You act like he can do no wrong!" Angelina shouted.

Aero rolled her eyes and waved her wand again, freeing Angelina as she made to move towards teh door.

"You know, your sense of loyalty is really screwed up, Aero. You protect Sirius Black, You protect Harry even when he does something wrong, but yet you turn against me, like you turned against Fred? You even know how messed up that is?" Angelina shouted.

Aero turned to look at her once upon a time best friend.

"I used to protect you, have some loyalty towards you, but you seemed to have never had any towards me. Sirius never did any wrong to me, nor did Harry. Not like you. And Fred? I doubt you have any right to even dare speak his name, you hypocritical backstabbing whore." she said simply, her eyes hard, before turning and promptly walking out the door with a resounding bang.

* * *

"So when should I sign you up for anger management? Before or after you murder our dear new Professor in her sleep?"

Harry spun around from his place by the fire. The common room had been empty. How did she manage to sneak up on him?

"You heard then?" he guessed.

"About your shouting match with Delores? Oh yes, I heard. Johnsons quite angry with you." she said casually, sitting beside him on the floor leaning against the couch.

Harry sighed.

"I didn't mean to it just...I don't know...recently...I've been angry. Really angry, about everything, at everyone. Even over the smallest thing, I blow up..." he said, leaning his head into his hands.

He hard her give a heavy sigh before wrapping an arm comfortingly around his shoulders, pulling him into her. He accepted immediatley, he felt he didn't get nearly enough time alone with her anymore. She had something calming about her...

Even when he blew up at her at Grimmauld place, when she was only checking on him, she acted like it was nothing. Like she was okay with it. How could she be okay with it? He'd be a mess if she treated him the way he did her. But she hadn't minded at all...

"Harry, you've been through alot. You have a horrible home life, your god father is a bitter, broken old man on the run, you feel as though the world, even Dumbledore has turned against you, you're being called a liar, you're entering war time, you've been moved in with the Order, you were attacked by dementors, you watched a fellow schoolmate die and you blame yourself, not to mention you did infact fight Voldemort by yourself. It's alot Harry, it's a load you shouldn't have to bear, but you do. It'd make grown wizards go mad, they'd grow cold and paranoid, preferring to feel numb then feel the pain of it all. But you're strong, and brave and a true Gryffindor, and you perservere through it all. In all honesty, this is the best outcome, the anger. It's better then shutting down and closing yourself off from the world." she said quietly.

Harry listened intently. He had needed someone on his side, even though yes, he had Hermione and Ron, and the Order and the Weasleys but...Aero was different. She had always been like his big sister. He had never noticed it before now, but he constantly desired her approval, he wanted to know her opinions on things, her advice. He had been afraid that she blamed him for everything, for making her worry so much, for involving her fiance and her in this war, for her going under investigation. He had needed to know she wasn't angry at him, that she understood, even if he was confused as hell himself.

He felt a huge weight lift off his heart when she said that. She understood. Truly.

"You're not angry with me then?"

He could feel her gaze on him.

"Why would I be angry with you? Did you turn my uniform pink while I wasn't looking or something?"

"This whole thing...I just wondered if you blamed me for it all...getting Fred and you involved..."

"Harry James Potter, I could never blame you for this because it's not. Your. Fault." she said, emphasizing each word, making sure he understood.

"No one believes me." he blurted.

She rubbed his arm soothingly.

"I know, I know. It feels as though everyone is against you. I get it. But Harry...most people are too afraid to believe he's back. They're afraid of another war, of more chaos and fear. So they won't believe it until it's right in front of them, dancing naked with a blinking sign."

Harry felt his mouth quirk.

"But you don't need everyone's approval Harry. You're doing what's right. You know it's right, that what happened happened. Whether they believe it or not is their own decision and you can't force it on them. You can only tell them the truth and let them decide what to do with it."

Harry nodded.

"I know that...but why don't they understand? He's back, I wouldn't lie about this!" There he went, shouting again, and she just sat there, a calm expression on her face. He put his head back down.

"I know. _Hey_, I know. But they're afraid. They're in denial. Eventually, they'll believe it. Just give them time. But you can't force the truth down their throats."

Harry groaned.

"And that includes Umbridge. Harry, she could really hurt you. And I might not be able to defend you from every little thing. She reports to the Ministry, and incase you haven't noticed, you're not their favorite person right now. Any toe you put out of line will be counted against you."

"You cross the line all the time. You don't just put a toe across it, you pole jump over it." Harry said.

He could practically feel her rolling her eyes.

" I do _not_. I prefer to dance around that line. Little salsa dancing, maybe the tango... Teasing the enemy is just too much fun. But that's me, not you. You need to be careful."

"So do you. Aero you're under investigation."

"I know. Believe me, I haven't been able to forget that. I can see it on her face everytime she looks at me." Aero said with a sigh.

Harry felt a wave of guilt crash over him.

"You're under investigation because of me. I'm so sorry Aero, honestly you have to know I never meant for that to happen!"

He looked up at her then, desperate, as if thinking she'd blame him.

Aero just watched him.

"I know. I never said I blamed you, and it's not your fault. You can't control people's reactions Harry. For every action, there's a reaction. You made an action, to tell the truth, the reaction was discrediting you and Dumbledore and me under fire." she said with a shrug.

Harry stood then, and kicked a chair, furious, and a little scared.

"You could go to Azkaban if she ever found out what you're doing! What you're doing for _me_! Don't you get that? Because of me you're in trouble, you're on guard all the time! And you've already got so much on your plate! It's not fair!" he shouted.

Aero stood and watched him throw a pillow half way across the room. His anger was escalating.

"_Harry_-"

"Nothing is fair! This isn't how it's supposed to happen! Why me? Why now?" he cried.

Aero could see the angry tears in his eyes, his cheeks flushed. He was livid, more so than she had thought he would be. She cautiously walked over to him.

"Harry, none of this is your fault, you have to understand that. And you? Because you're...I don't know. That's more Dumbledore's area, but you've been chosen, by him, by fate, and it sucks and it's not fair and if I could take your pain away, if I could take away all your suffering and your pain and be the chosen one myself, I would, as long as you didn't have to. But I can't and I hate it. I hate it that you had to go through losing your parents. I hate that you got stuck with a royal pain in the ass family. I'm sorry you had to deal with this stuff so soon, I'm sorry you get scared, and confused and angry and hurt and I'm sorry you had to fight him, and I'm sorry you had to see Cedric die, and I'm sorry that no one believes you, and I'm sorry Sirius isn't the man you need him to be, I'm sorry I can't protect you from all this crap, I'm sorry we're going into war, I'm sorry you feel everything that you do. I'm sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. It's not fair, you're right. It shouldn't have to be you. I wish you had nothing to do with this. I wish I could protect you from it, but I can't. And it kills me. But you need to stop blaming yourself for me. _I _worry about _you_, not the other way around. You're in no way responsible for whatever happens to me. You need to understand that. I can handle whatever happens." she told him seriously, grabbing his shoulders and making him face her.

Harry looked down at her. She was shorter than him by several inches now, looking rather petite but that fierce look in her eyes said anything but. This girl, Aero, was like his sister. She had taken on the role and embraced it. She was protective, gave him advice, cheered him up and comforted him when he needed her to. Why wouldn't she let him do the same? She was in trouble, she had to be just a little scared. He'd never seen her scared. He'd only ever seen her break down once, when he found out about her parents. That image was burned in his mind forever. It had shaken him, to see her like that. Maybe that's why she never let go around him. He doubted she let go around anyone.

He had to calm down though. Shouting at her wouldn't fix anything.

"You're allowed to worry about me, but I can't worry about you?" he clarified.

"Correct." she replied smoothly.

Harry almost rolled his eyes at her antics.

"You're such a hypocrit sometimes."

"But you love me for it, admit it."

Harry grinned, despite everything. She was still standing close to him so he easily wrapped his arms around her, holding her there. He couldn't help it, he did love her. There was something soothing and calm, like she was a safe place to go or something. He could blow up and say anything he wanted, and she'd brush it off. She'd understand things others couldn't. Like the love issues and the parents and the pressure.

"Yeah yeah, I love you. Don't make such a scene about it, woman." he grumbled with a smile.

He felt her shake as she laughed against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his back tightly like he did with her, his hand cradeling the back of her head. He had a feeling, just a feeling like he normally got with her, that she needed that hug just as much as he did.

* * *

It was dark, and well into the night now. So everyone should've been sleeping. _**Should've **_being the key word.

Aero was curled up against Fred's bare chest, both soundly asleep, when she heard something that made her struggle to open her eyes. Thanks to all the Auror training she had extremely light ears, though that might've also had something to do with her being an animagus as well.

It was sort of a quite, muffled sound, but definatley a voice. She rolled away from Fred and followed the sound. It was...coming from the nightstand? She reached tiredly into the drawer in there Fred had cleared out for her and looked around at teh few items in there. A watch, a few hair elastics, a book on Mythology stories she'd gotten from Sirius, and something wrapped in cloth. It was the item Sirius had given to her before she left for school. She had opened it before, seeing a portion of a mirror.

She frowned and unwrapped it, the voice louder now.

"_Aero? Are you there?_" a frantic voice sounded.

Aero felt her chest tighten at the desperate sound of SIrius's voice. She could see him in the mirror, his face, his eyes wide and glossy, as if seeing past her.

"Sirius? Are you alright?" she asked.

"_Aero? Aero_..."

"Sirius what's wrong?"

"_They're here...they're back, they're coming to get me, Aero help me_!" he cried, sounding close to tears.

Aero felt panic rising in her chest. Who was coming to get him? The Dementors? The Ministry? Death Eaters?

"Sirius what are you talking about? Calm down and talk to me. Where's Remus?" she asked as calmly as she could.

"_Remus...Remus went out with Tonks to do some rounds or something...Aero they're coming_..." he whimpered.

Aero caught a clearer glimpse of Sirius's panicked eyes...but it's like he wasn't seeing her. She chanced a glance around the room. Everyone was still sleeping.

"Sirius, I think you're having a nightmare. Calm down. Turn on the lights for me." she instructed him slowly, as if speaking to a small child.

She saw Sirius nod and the mirror bobbed as he moved and she heard him mutter the spell before the lights turned on.

"Now Sirius, do you see anything?" she asked him.

"_No...but Aero_..."

"Sirius, I know you're scared. But you're just having nightmares."

"_No no no no no_..."

Aero sighed and ran a hand tiredly through her hair.

"Sirius, lock the door."

He did.

"Keep the lights on."

He did.

"Lay back down in bed."

He did again.

"Now, I'm going to stay on the line, I'll read you a book until you fall asleep. I'll keep a look out from here. If I hear anything, I'll shout, alright?"

"_Okay...okay, yeah_..."

Aero reached into the drawer and grabbed the Mythology book before heading towards the bathroom and putting a silencing charm on it. She slid in under the sinks and leaned against the cool tiled wall. She settled the book open on her knees, the mirror there as well. She began to read, telling him quietly about the Gods and Goddesses until she could hear faint snores coming from his end.

She felt her eyes drooping and yawned. She stayed on the line though, murmuring softly, calmly and soothingly, whenever he turned restless and he calmed down. She stayed up for several more hours, watching over her sleeping, terrified cousin. Obviously, he didn't have nightmares beforehand because he had been able to distract himself with her and Harry and the Order...but now everyone was gone, he felt useless, Remus was out for the night and he was alone. She felt an intense sense of guilt, leaving her damaged cousin there alone. She continued her soothing murmuring until she slowly drifted off to sleep herself against the wall under the sink.

* * *

Aero awoke with a start when a hand grabbed her shoulder. Her eyes burst open and it took a moment before they adjusted. She realized it was morning and she was still in the bathroom, under the sink, the Mythology book and mirror had fallen to the floor beside her and Fred stood over her, an amused and curious look on his face.

"Something wrong with my bed, love?" he asked.

Aero blinked several times before shaking her head a bit and stretching before Fred helped her up.

"No, sorry...bad dream. Came in here to splash some water on my face and guess I just fell asleep." she shrugged.

She could tell Fred didn't believe her but he didn't press it and she was thankful. She doubted Sirius would want anyone knowing about his nightmares.

"Well, we should get ready for classes then." Fred said.

Aero nodded, picking up her stuff and running to his bed, jerking the curtains closed and changing. She put the mirror in her inside coat pocket, just in case Sirius needed her during the day. She'd be there anytime he called for her. If not, she'd check on him later. She dressed quickly and launched herself from the bed, grabbing her bookbag and wand before leaving the room.

Katie was in the common room, waiting for her. Apparrently they had both missed breakfast, which Katie continuously groaned about as they made their way to their first class, Potions. Katie was in a sour mood the whole time. She really wasn't pleasant in the mornings on her own, let alone when she didn't have any food.

"You all have your N.E.W.T.s this year, so I expect the highest marks from my students, since you all _somehow_-" Snape drawled, a pointed look in her direction "-managed to make this level of class."

Aero rolled her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue before continuing to chop up some spotted roots.

She really wasn't bad at Potions. She was rather good. It was a skill that had led Dumbledore to have her learn how to make Wolfsbane for Remus when he left his Professor position here. Snape hated her because of Sirius. It wasn't because she was horrible. And she didn't not pay-attention like Harry, or panic like Neville. She tended to just annoy him when he gave her the pointed looks and petty comments.

Aero looked up from her roots when Katie gave an "_oof_" and knocked into the table - _hard _- and her potion crashed like a wave over the side and onto the table. Aero immediatley looked around and noticed Anna Drake, a Slytherin, laughing over by the ingredients shelf. She had walked by and pushed Katie.

"Ms. Bell, if you cannot keep your balance long enough to not scorch my tables, perhaps you should leave the room." Snape said testily.

"Well, maybe if _you _can't keep that grease from dropping onto said tables and making them so **_bloody flammable_**, maybe _you _should leave the room. And perhaps, buy some shampoo?" Katie muttered angrily, dosing the fire on the table with her wand.

Aero almost groaned when she saw Snape's eyes glint. He hated Katie as well, for some unknown reason, almost as much as herself and Harry.

"Detention, Ms. Bell, tonight. Twenty points from Gryffindor." he said coldly.

"Katie..." Aero said, hiding her laughter at her friend's furious look.

"She completely pushed me! That's not on, that is..."

Aero took note of Anna Drake who was watching them with an amused smile on her face. No, that wasn't alright. Aero wondered what Anna's next class was...

"Don't worry. I've got a free period next." Aero said.

Katie looked up at her friend and gave a laugh before trying to fix her potion.

"So uhm...how're you and Angelina doing?" Aero asked curiously as she watched Angelina who was several rows in front of them, working with Alicia.

Katie stiffened.

"Katie? What's wrong?" Aero asked, immediatley looking to see if Anna had done something like a hex.

"Nothing, Aer, just...Angelina really is a backstabbing whore." she muttered.

Aero frowned as Katie hid behind her golden hair.

"How so? What exactly did she do? Try to fuck Oliver or something?" she asked.

She had no idea what was going on between her friends, but everytime she thought about it she got such a sinking feeling in her stomach. But Katie was just so furious with Angelina lately, she wondered what had happened during the summer holidays between them to work them up so much.

Katie looked up sharply.

"No, what? No. But I wouldn't put it past her...backstabbing...always opening her goddamn legs...needs to be put in a convent...dress like a penguin..." Katie said, trailing off to mutter under her breath.

Aero felt like she had a huge question mark on her face. She felt like that a lot recently. There were one too many secrets in the Order, too many in the Ministry, too many in Dumbledore's head alone and now, back where everything was supposed to be okay, where she could go back to being a teenager and worry about simple things, like classes and essays and what was for dinner and where she and Fred could have alone time and not have to be an adult worrying about taking care of Sirius and Remus and Harry and dealing with the emotions from the rejection of her "family" and getting MARRIED and keeping said secrets...now there were secrets and confusion here too. Katie and Angelina were on the rocks, Sirius had called her from a very real nightmare through a mirror in the middle of the night, Umbrdige was here making life hell, Fred was carried up in the joke shop, her and Angelina were a little less than friendly, and Harry was having meltdowns.

Could she not just get away, just for a little while, and have everything be simple again...or rather more simple because her life has never been plain simple...

It felt like the pressure of everything, it never left. It followed her from Grimmauld place, out in the real, harsh world, to Hogwarts, her home-away-from-home, her once upon a time safe haven like a puppy or more accurately a thundercloud. Even here everything was complicated and confusing and heavy and required her constant attention so she could fix it. She always had to fix it, didn't she?

Her group of once close friends had suffered a breakdown, a betrayal of trusts and was cracking under the weight of it. Katie was a blazing ball of fury over something she wasn't willing to talk about, Angelina was an ice-cube, cold to practically everyone now, except for when she looked at Aero with some weird smug expression and a calculating look in her eye that made Aero fear a complex storm was coming and she was caught in the middle with Alicia, who was constantly trying to difuse any situations like a hovering mother hend with two children.

Fred was consumed with the Joke Shop and testing it and getting more money for products and a place to put it all. He was restless at night, constantly wanting to be in motion. He was torn between hating his brother, Percy. He hated him but didn't want to, and was confused by it. He was going a mile a minute lately and avoided her friends like the plague recently.

Harry was having meltdowns in class, fighting with Umbridge, shouting in class, getting detentions, blowing up at people over nothing, blaming himself for everything and was confusing himself and everyone else in the process. Dumbledore was MIA which didn't help anything at all, he seemed to be avoiding them all while Umbridge made it her hobby to practically stalk them in the halls and look at them like they were prey when they were in the classroom.

In reality, Aero was the prey. She had information on Harry and Dumbledore and Sirius and Umbridge knew that, and she was just using her, her investigation, as a means to an end, to get one over on Dumbledore, to find info on him. But Aero wouldn't crack, she knew that, she was fully prepared for anything Delores tried. But still...she felt like she had to constantly watch her back, either to make sure Angelina wasn't hexing her or Umbridge wasn't hunting her.

"Aero? Hello, earth calling Aero." Katie said, waving a hand in front of her face.

Aero blinked a few times, getting her bearings, before running a hand frustratedly through her hair. She felt like screaming or punching a wall, and like Harry, she wanted to just yell and scream at the top of her lungs, and tell everyone to fuck off with their problems and leave her out of them. FOr once she wanted someone to offer to help her sort out her own feelings and her own problems instead of agreeing to take on everyone elses. And then a common and familiar wave of guilt hit. Everyone else hadn't dumped their problems on her. It wasn't their faults. Her problems were miniscule compared to hers and she felt like a selfish bitch for comparing them.

"Sorry, Katie. Just sort of dozed off..." she muttered, shaking her head.

Katie nodded and nedged her to pick up her things. Apparrently class was over and she had made her whole potion on auto-pilot while she had been thinking. Odd.

They left the room and Aero noticed Anna Drake walking away down the hall. Aero bid Katie a good-bye, who was heading off to Care of Magical Creatures, and followed the brunette Slytherin down the hall. She flicked her wand and watched Anna's bag split open and the other students walked into class as she stopped to pick up her things, cursing under her breath. Aero watched from around the corner and grinned, raising her wand. Anna Drake was going to be a nice distraction from her thoughts...

* * *

Aero walked down the corridor. She had a free period but all her homework was done and the library was no fun and she had no idea where the twins and Lee were and everyone else was in class.

"Should you really be walking around my yourself?"

Aero didn't even have to spin around. She recognized that voice.

"Draco. Don't you have a class to be sleeping in?" she asked as she continued walking.

She was casual outside, but inside she was ready to high tail it out of there. Draco...just thinking about him brought back feelings she had repressed about her disownement. She didn't like the Malfoys sure, but they were, in a way, the only faily she had left. She had spent most of her life with them...and they cast her away. But that was how her family worked, she told herself repeatedly. Look at Andromeda and Cedrella, who had done the same thing as her. And Sirius was different too, like herself, and Alphard. They all had it happen to themselves, she should have expected what happened. It shouldn't be a big deal.

But even though she had expected it in a way, she hoped it wouldn't happen. She had a small glimmer of hope, before that night, that her aunt would show some sort of compassion for her, like she did for Draco. Narcissa used to be like a surrogate mother to her. Not a good one, but one none the less. She never played with her, she would compliment her on her looks, how much of a Black she looked like, how good she was with a wand, how intelligent she was. Yes, compliments. She had been grooming her like she had been. But there had been that undeniable feeling of obligation. That's what she had been, an obligation and only that. It was in respect to her sister that she took Aero in. Aero had hoped Narcissa wouldn't be so cruel, that she would stop Lucius from torturing her, her own niece, the girl she had raised, that she would show some love. Just for a moment. Just maybe a flicker of it in her eyes as she looked down at her...but Aero remembered that night too clearly for her own mental good. There had been no emotion in her aunt's eyes. It was like she had just shut off. There had never been any love...yet again. And Draco was just a reminder of that. He was the one who got the looks of love, the doting mother, the secretly proud father. He got it...and he still had it, while Aero felt like the trash they had left out on the curb. His presence was almost painful now.

"You look a little distant. Everything alright?" he asked conversationally as he walked beside her.

She refused to look at him. If she did she was afraid of what she would feel. She could barely take the supressed feeling of abandonment she got every once in awhile. If she looked it right in the face... she wouldn't be able to take it. Draco, the boy she still reluctantly thought of as a brother, was the base of her pain right now, he was the base of her jealousy, he was rejection, abandonment incarnate.

"Fine." she muttered.

She refused to lose her cool in front of him. She could feel his gaze on her. She wasn't worried though, he had never been observant. It wasn't like with Harry, who saw every emotion in her eyes.

"Sure, sure. You have circles under your eyes. Haven't you been sleeping well?" he said.

"I've been sleeping fine, Draco."

"And things are...good between you and Weasley?"

Aero pursed her lips.

"Perfect."

"Good. Good...uhm...I'm dating Astoria Greengrass you know, the girl yo usaid you liked." he said quietly.

Aero nodded stiffly.

"Pansy's not taking it well, but I didn't expect she would. But that doesn't matter. We weren't really dating anyways..."

"Draco, why are you assuming we can still talk about this stuff?" she asked softly.

"B-because...we're still family.." he said, shocked.

Did he really just stutter? Or more likely did he just call her family?

She rounded on him then, furious.

"_Family_? We're still family? I'm sorry, but no. We're not. Not anymore. I used to see you as a _brother_, someone I'd do anything for. **Used **to being the operative word here, _little cousin_. But you severed any ties you had with me when you let, when you _**watched**_, your father torture me. _You _did that, not _me_. I would've fought for you, stood up for you. But you just _stood _there, you and your mother, as your father tortured me. We're no longer family, Draco, because family doesn't do that. _They don't do that to each other!_ I realize I don't have a lot of experience in that field but I know that much! You and me are done, _finished_. I won't sit and talk to you, help you with your love life, - _which is easy anyways because Astoria is a quiet girl and Pansy doesn't even qualify as a girlfriend but more of a clingy stalker _- or talk about me and how I'm doing and my relationship, because you know who was there when you let me get tortured? **Fred**! **_Harry_**! _They _were there, when _you _were supposed to be! So don't you **dare **try to tell me we're still family and talk like nothings wrong, **_like it never happened!_** So you know what I say to you, Draco Malfoy? _**Go**_. **_To. Hell." _**

And with that she spun away, storming down a corridor, leaving a shocked Draco standing alone in the corridor, oblivious to the wetness that had suddenly clouded his vision...

* * *

**Wow, that was a seriously long chapter. I didn't plan this chapter, so it might jump around a little, or something but just whatever... **

**I hope you guys like it anyways...**

**R&R? **


	17. Chapter 17 Loosing one's mind

This was unnerving. Really unnerving. It made her want to climb the walls or launch herself at the door. She had goosebumps on her arms and her heart was beating faster than normal. But Aero, ever the composed one in a crisis, simply sat calmly in the chair, her infamous poker face on like nothing was bothering her. Inside her inner self was screaming like a child, wanting to shout at the cats to stop _fucking _staring at her and go play with yarn.

Because, inside Delores Umbridge's office...there was one too many cat portraits on the wall, all meowing and cooing and watching...just watching. It was what was so unnerving. That and the almost unbearable stench of cheap perfume in the stale air and the blinding amount of pink and frill covering the area but...

"Tea?" the woman asked sweetly.

"No thank you."

"Oh, I insist."

"Well, I'm fine, thank-you."

"Really, don't be so rude dear. Have some tea."

Aero could practically hear Mad-eye growling at her in her mind for accepting the china cup from a known enemy.

She lifted it to her lips but kept them sealed tightly. Like hell she'd let anything from this woman enter her system. She wasn't stupid...

"Now, I believe you understand why I asked you here this evening?"

_Because you enjoy annoying me?_ Aero thought.

"I have no idea, Professor Umbridge."

"Well you see Ms. Black, your recent actions have given me cause for concern." Umbridge said sweetly, trying to actually looked concerned.

Aero remained stoic.

"How so?" she asked.

"Let's start with your relationship with Mister Weasley. It's not healthy for a girl of your stature." she said patronizingly.

Aero resisted the urge to hex her. It wouldn't be school appropriate.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You see, as a public figure, you have certain..._responsibilities_. Such as not associating ones self with those who openly go against the Ministry."

"Ah, so because you think that they think Voldemort -" _cue the flinch _" - is back, they're going against the Ministry. And as an Auror, I can't have anything to do with them?" Aero clarified.

"Yes, yes. Correct. I'm glad you see it my way. So the relationship will end. And then onto the other matter of business._ Drink up dear, that's right_. It's regarding your cousin, Sirius Black."

"What about him?"

_Here we go..._

"I know you know where he is. Now, as an Auror, you should tell me. You won't get in trouble, and we can ensure your safety. Sirius Black won't harm you." Umbridge said, looking sypmathetic.

Aero would've laughed had it not been the woman who currently had her under inspection and the Minister around her finger asking the questions.

"I've told you, and the Minister, several times that I do not know the location of Sirius Black." Aero said.

She wondered if she should be alarmed at how easy it was for her to lie to the Ministry, right to their faces...

Aero could see the hidden anger behind the tight lips of her superior.

"Ms. Black, the Ministry would over look you past obvious lies, if you come forward now."

"They can't have been obvious lies, since I wasn't lying, Professor."

"Ms. Black, where is Sirius Black?"

"Hmm...have you checked Hawaii? That's where I'd go. All nice and warm and whatnot." Aero said thoughtfully.

"Ms. Black, do not make me ask you again."

"I'm not making you do anything, Professor. You seem convinced that I know where my dear cousin is, and I'm telling you different."

Delores Umbridge stood from her chair, leaning over teh desk, openly glaring at Aero now.

"Ms. Black, I do not think you fully understand the situation in which you are in. I hold the power here, now. I know you know where he is, and I know you're covering up for him. I also know you're allied with Albus DUmbledore and support Harry Potter. I know you're a traitor to the Ministry and a disgrace to this world with your childish deceitfulness. Now, tell. me. where. Sirius. Black. Is."

Aero looked straight at Umbrdige, a cooled expression on her face.

"I. Don't. Know." She repeated.

_He could be in the kitchen, in the parlor, in his bedroom... _

If this bitch thought she could rule her life, that she had any power over her, she was even more stupid than she looked. Aero would never send Sirius back to Azkaban. He was far too broken already...

"Ms. Black, I do not wish to, but eventually you will force my hand. It would be all too easy to convince Cornelius that you're a threat and a traitor, nothing better than your mother -" Aero felt herself flinch.

_I'm nothing like my mother!_ She cried inside her mind.

And then Umbridge's next sentence made her blood run cold.

" - and send you away to Azkaban. You'll end up just as _insane _and **_broken _**as the man you're protecting so _desperately_. I'm sure I can even give you his old cell to keep warm for him." she said with a sadistic grin.

_Azkaban_? No no no no no! She couldn't. She couldn't go there! A picture of Sirius came to mind, broken, and pale, his eyes wide in fear of something that wasn't there. And the sound of his voice, calling for her like the night before, scared of something that wasn't there. She'd go insane, just like him, like her mother...no. no.

Aero mentally slapped herself. She needed to calm down. This is what Umbridge wanted. And she could tell Umbridge had seen her hands tighten their grip on the teacup when her grin widened.

"I assure you, once again, Delores Umbridge, I have no idea where Sirius Black is. And I can also assure you, that threatening me, will not bring you any answers." she said stiffly before setting the cup down and walking from the room, her heart beating a mile a minute.

She made her way quickly to the tower and up to the boys' room before jumping into bed next to Fred who looked up from his paperwork on his lap, alarmed.

Fred set his papers down and turned her over, making her face him, and staring at her.

"What's wrong? Aer, what happened? What did that bitch say to you?" he asked urgently, brushing hair from her face.

Aero shook her head.

She was being ridiculous. But all she could picture was being sent to prison, just like her mother had. She did everything in her power to seperate herself from her mother. Having anything in common with her terrified her. She couldn't go to prison. Her mother went because to was loyal to Voldemort. Aero could go because she was loyal to Dumbledore. That was too similar to comfort her.

"Nothing. Sorry. Thought I saw a spider on my way up here." she sighed.

Fred stared at her for a moment before grinning.

"You can fight in a duel, but you're afraid of a spider. Such a typical woman."

Aero pouted and thumped his arm.

"Spiders are big, and hairy with too many eyes and legs. They're creepy." she defended.

Fred rolled his eyes.

"They're smaller than you. Just go, 'here spider, nice spider, let me pet you spider, WITH MY FOOT!' and stomp on it." he said simply, waving his hands around for effect.

Aero sniggered at him, but shook her head.

"You're the man. You kill them. It's why we keep you people around."

"Is that all? I thought it was because we're so sexy?"

Aero snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Nah. You're just good spider killers."

"But how else would you women get you're lovin'?" he whined.

She looked at him for a moment before smiling slightly.

"You have heard of lebians, correct?" she asked.

Fred's mouth dropped open and she heard Lee on the other side of the bathroom door shout _"YES! I'LL KILL THE SPIDERS IF I CAN WATCH!"_

* * *

_It was dark, and cold. The room was empty. There was a window, open and the wind blew the curtains, making them look as if they were floating. The sounds of nothing filled the air. Nothing. Everything, for once, was silent. _

_Except, the faint sound of breathing. _

_Underneath the old bed. No one slept there anymore. It was old, and it creaked and it was dusty. _

_It was underneath that bed that something hid in the darkness. A small form, curled up, a hand over their mouth to try and quiet their exhales. It was a child, a girl. It was...her. _

_She was little, still a toddler, dressed in a black dress, like something her mother would wear, with lace at the cuffs. Her feet were bare. Her hair was dark, her skin pale, her eyes wide and grey, looking helplessly into the room above her. She was afraid. _

_She was afraid of the monsters. Most kids wouldn't hide under the bed if they were afraid of the monsters, but cousin Sirius had told her a long time ago, that under the bed was safest. Under the bed it was just her, no monsters. Outside, in the rest of the house, in the rest of the world, there were monsters. People could be monsters, and she saw them everyday, he told her. That if she got scared, to hide under the bed. Hide in the darkness. _

_And right now, there was a monster. She could hear her coming up the stairs. Coming down the hallway. Coming fast. She was angry. She was always scarier when she was angry. That's why she was under the bed. Maybe the monster wouldn't find her. Or maybe Sirius wasn't really gone, maybe he'd come back and save her. Because Sirius couldn't be gone. He wouldn't leave her. Not with the monster... _

_A shreik pierced the air as she was ripped from under the bed, her nails digging into the floorboards, leaving marks as she struggled desperately to go back to her hiding place. She was out in the open now, laying in the dark, facing the ceiling and watching, terrified, as the face of her mother appeared, a twisted smile on her face as her wand glowed bright. _

_"Mummy please!" she cried, tears rolling down her face. _

_Crying wouldn't help. Crying never helped. Crying was useless. It was weak. _

_"Please. Please. PLEASE." her mother mocked coldly before giving a cackling laugh. _

_The light moved, pointing down at her. She cried harder, silent, but the tears kept coming, faster and faster. _

_"They're coming for me. They're coming for me and daddy. We'll miss you so much...let me give you a little present before I go, no?" her mother said, speaking like a child herself. _

_Her mother always spoke like a baby when she hurt her. _

_She gave a whimper as several loud cracks sounded in the air outside. As the wand lowered to point at her, she flipped around and tried to run to the window. She was crawling on the ground, her body shaking too much to stand properly. She had no control over her body. It was acting in fear, before her mind could think as she scrabbled forward. She had no control. Her mother had the control... _

_And then the bright light of color and she screamed as she flew forward, crashing into the wall under the window hard with a crack and landing in a tangled heap on the floor with a thud. Her vision was cloudy and she was staring through her hair as her mother shreiked with laughter, raising her wand again. _

_She could feel the warmth on her back, like warm water spilling down her back, until she raised her hand and saw all the red, making her scream. And then they were there, the people from before...from when Sirius had taken her to that place. The man with the crazy eye was there, coming towards her. her lifted her up and she just lay limp in his arms, watching her mother laugh and laugh as the people grabbed at her. She had never seen such a scary look in her mother's eyes before. _

_And then suddenly...the view changed. The woman struggling was her, older and crazy, with Kingsley and Tonks holding her back as she fought, laughing and Mad-eye instead held a little girl with bright red hair, covered in blood and sobbing. _

_"AERO!" _

Aero lurched up in bed, her hair stuck to her face, her eyes wide and her breathing labored. She sat there for a second.

That had been when her parents were arrested. When she had gotten that scar on her back from her mother. Why was she thinking about that now? And then...she had become her mother, and the little girl with the red hair..._oh Merlin_.

Was it because Umbridge had compared her to her mother? Is that why she had that dream? It hadn't been the first time, of course, it had been the main nightmare for many years, her becoming her mother but...

Aero could feel the wetness on her cheeks and ran a shaking hand up over her face, wiping it and straightening her hair as she tried to catch her breath and calm her heart. She felt like she was losing her mind...

"_Aero_!"

She jumped violently and looked around. She slowly, with a shaking hand, opened the curtains of Fred's bed and peeked out. There was a very dim light coming from her school robes and she bent over the bed, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the mirror. She held the little shard of mirror in her hand and saw Sirius's frightened, glossy eyes, darting around as he called her name again.

Fred stirred in bed beside her and she gently removed his arm from around her waist and grabbed her Mythology book before padding into the bathroom yet again.

She pushed aside her own scared mind and racing heart as she slid down the bathroom wall, opening the book as she murmured soothing words to her frantic cousin.

Her nightmares could wait. After all, Sirius needed her, and for Sirius she could push them away. She'd deal with her problems later.

_"Orpheus could play such beautiful music..." _she began quietly, just as she had the night before.

* * *

"Will you stop moving it around so much?" she said in exasperation.

"Well if you didn't keep attacking I -_OW_- you did that one on purpose." Harry accused.

"Keep it still or I'll pour my Firewhiskey on it, see if it hurts then." she threatened.

"I would break your broom if you came near my hand with that stuff." he replied.

She dabbed the back of his hand again with disinfectant potion, her other hand holding his wrist tightly, trying to keep it still.

They were alone in his dormroom, everyone else was downstairs in the common room, celebrating Ron being Keeper and the new team put together. All the while Harry and Aero had escaped upstairs after she caught sight of his hand after his detention.

"I should've noticed this before." she grumbled to herself.

How could she miss this? That woman was carving into his hand every night and she was so caught up in her own drama that she didn't notice?

"You didn't notice because I didn't want you to notice." he assurred her.

"Still, I'm supposed to notice. Now look how bad this is."

"Aero, you've been distracted lately, it's alright - "

"No it bloody isn't! Your stuff comes before mine, that's how it's always been, how it's supposed to be. And now this woman is trying to bloody brand your hand or something and you couldn't even tell me!" she interupted, furious.

Harry watched her dab his hand again, gently, despite her obvious anger, she was very gently with his wounds. She had circles under her eyes, but if you didn't look hard, you'd just brush it off. Her eyes weren't as bright as they usually were, more like she was constantly bored, they were dull. And her skin was a shade paler and her hands shook slightly, just ever so slightly, really not even noticable.

"Aero, you're stuff shouldn't get pushed aside for mine or anyone elses. You're allowed to have things go on too, you know." he said quietly.

"Nothing is going on. I've just had nightmares, that's all. It's no excuse to neglect you."

"You're not neglecting me-**_OW_**."

"Stop moving your hand then!"

"I'm not moving my hand, you're whacking it!"

"I'm not whacking it, you twit!"

"Oh really, so I'm saying ow because it sounds funny?"

"Exactly."

"You're impossible -OW, dammitt!"

"There you go again."

She shook her head as she swiped the cloth at his hand again. She couldn't believe she didn't notice he was hurting. She was off her game. But that would end. Harry came first. Harry and Sirius came first, that was her rule.

* * *

Aero sat in the common room, curled up in a chair, nestled into Fred's side. She was wearing one of his sweatshirts, it was so big if practically swallowed her whole. She nuzzled her face into it, taking in his familiar scent. His arm was around her, holding her to him, as he talked with George and Lee. Alicia sat on a chair, Lee on the floor by her legs. Obviously the boys were talking about the Joke Shop and merchandise, while Aero just rested and Alicia finished some homework.

Harry was sitting in the corner of the room, talking quietly with Ron while Hermione was practically falling asleep on her book. Neville was talking with Dean Thomas on the other side of the room and Ginny with some girls near by. Everything was fine, and normal. And Aero completely ignored it.

All she could focus on...was just the nightmare replaying in her head. Her mother's voice, her own voice screaming, Her own cackling laughter mixing seemlessly with her mother's.

So at first she didn't notice the commotion coming down the stairs. She didn look up when Fred twisted around to look over the seat. She sat up and watched curiously, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, as Katie stormed over to them, Angelina hot on her tail, both furious and cussing at each other as they went.

"Tell her!" Katie shouted, pointing at Aero, whose eyes grew wide.

"Why don't you! You're so up in everyone's business, you do it!" Angelina screamed.

"You're the one who admitted it! Tell her!"

"I don't have to tell her anything!"

"She deserves to know, you backstabbing whore!"

"She's perfectly fine not knowing! You think she'll feel any better when she does?" Angelina cried.

"She deserves to know what you did!"

"What is going on?" Alicia demanded.

"I don't know, how about Angelina tells you?" Katie said.

Angelina refused to look at anyone, especially Aero. Aero suddenly felt very anxious. The common room was silent. Harry was watching her intently, half-rising out of his chair, as if to come stand beside her. Neville had risen as well, looking afraid, and Ginny by his side, looking angry.

What did Katie know that she didn't? What did Ginny seem to know that she didn't?

"Ang? What's going on?" she asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer.

Angelina swallowed and opened her mouth before closing it and doing it again.

"Why don't you ask her what happened when she and Fred were together?" Katie suggested, looking extremely guilty now, as if regretting she was doing this so publicly.

"Ange?" Aero asked, glancing wearily at Fred who suddenly stiffened at her side.

"Aero...you have to know it wasn't like Katie painting it. You and Fred weren't together then...I had no idea you'd be getting back together, or that you two were so serious..." Angelina began quickly, finally meeting her gaze.

Aero felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest, or break into a million pieces as suddenly the past few weeks came to mind and everything was being pieced together like a puzzle in her head.

"Angelina..."

"Aero, I'm sorry, you have to believe me!" Angelina said.

Aero turned, almost robotically, to look at Fred, who was pale, and his eyes were locked on Angelina, wide, before turning to look at her.

Aero stood from her chair, turning to face them, feeling the unfamiliar sting in her eyes as she tried to breathe.

No...not Fred. He would've told her...and Angelina had been her best friend. She'd have at least had the decency not to...

She raised her eyes from the floor and looked between her old friend her and fiance before finally speaking the question she thought she'd never ask.

_"Fred...did you fuck Angelina?" _


	18. Chapter 18 Carry on little soldier

_And I've lost who I am. And I can't understand. Why my heart is so broken. Rejecting your love, without, love gone wrong, Lifeless words. Carry on. But I know, All I know, is the end's beginning. Who I am, from the start, take me home, to my heart, let me go and I will run, I will not be silent. All this time, spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain, all is lost, hope remains... _

**_And this wars's not over..._**

_- Shattered - Trading Yesterday _

_

* * *

_

Aero sat in the corner of the Shrieking Shack. It was dark and quiet and empty. It was solitude. It was away from everything. From everyone. From feelings and thoughts. She just sat there, tipping the cold botte to her lips, again and again and _again_. It burned her throat on the way down in the beginning, but now she couldn't feel it. She just sat there, in the dark, staring at the dirt covered floor below her. Her face was dried, but the tracks of tears fallen still showed. Her eyes were red and her face pale. Her hand shook as she raised the bottle again, setting it against her lips and tipped it, drinking the last of its contents before reaching blindly into the cabinet on the floor and pulling out another. She didn't notice the room really. It was scarred, baring the demons of its past. The claw marks, raked in blood, covered the walls and the floors. A whole wall was practically demolished. The cabinet had obviously once been secured to a wall, and was now broken on the floor, its doors hanging off its hinges. Several bottles inside were broken. Having rummaged around shakily for them, glass littered the floorboards around her and the newly empty bottles. If it was one thing she inherited from her father, it was her high tolerance for alcohol, which currently gave her another reason to curse him. She wanted to feel numb. _So numb_.

And she could feel it coming. Her emotions were shut off. Her mind was blank. Her body on auto-pilot. It was necessary, she had decided, in order to stop the memories of her painful disownment, and her cousin's crumpled face and **_oh Merlin_**, everyone back in the common room. It was necessary. She couldn't deal with it. There were too many emotions. Ones she wouldn't, or rather couldn't, deal with. Not now, not ever. She had never dealt well with emotions. Simple things, sure, but when things gots complex, she could feel her control slipping.

If her control slipped, her emotions would show and everyone would see. She couldn't have that. She had always been like that. Even as a child. She could never bare herself too intimately to anyone. Not even Fred. The only ones to see her even close to completely losing control were Harry and Dumbledore, when she had cried and shouted after Harry saw the memory of her parents' sentencing. But even then, when she felt all the emotions, all the memories, crashing down on her, she hadn't completely lost control. She still had held that little sliver of control. And control was everything. She knew that. If she didn't have control, then she had nothing. She'd have no control over her thoughts, her emotions, and everything she had shut down on, everything she hid from in her mind, would come back, and she wouldn't be able to take it.

Not even Fred truly knew what went on in her mind. Even when he saw the scars on her, the battered shell she had when she went to Grimmauld Place, he hadn't seen it. Not truly. She had had control then. She didn't **_let _**it hurt. She didn't. She brushed it off, like it was freeing to be out of that house, away from that family. And she convinced herself that's how it was. That Lucius had done her a favor. But really, if she thought about it, which she _didn't_, she knew she'd feel the sting of yet another rejection. They had rejected her. They were the ones who took her in, and then they kicked her out, without so much as a blink of an eye, an ounce of guilt, a slight second of hesitation. It meant nothing, **she **meant nothing...

But she couldn't feel that. She refused to think about that. It was like thinking about her parents. The people supposed to love her more than anything, felt nothing for her.

And Fred had no idea. _None_. Because she knew he wouldn't understand. He had two loving parents, a safe home, and even when Percy continued to break his family's heart, they still loved him. Even when he disagreed or disappointed them, no matter how different he was, they still loved him just as much as ever. It was a luxury she had never had. Fred wouldn't understand that. Sure, he had gotten angry when he had seen her so hurt, but he didn't truly understand the magnitude of it. He wouldn't be able to understand the disgusting longing she still had, the one she hid everyday, the longing for her parent's love, of her family's understanding. Even after everything, even though she truly did hate them, the longing for their love and acceptance never left. He wouldn't _understand!_

And that's why she needed control. She needed control to hide it, to keep herself in check. So she could never be caught vulnerable and be hurt again. Love hurt. If you didn't get it, it hurt. If you did get it, it would eventually hurt. Love _hurt_. Love **killed**. Love _**destroyed**_. Love made people _weak_. And yet she had allowed herself to love.

She allowed herself to love Harry.

She allowed herself to love Sirius.

She allowed herself to love Fred.

She allowed herself to love Desarie.

She allowed herself to love Angelina.

She allowed herself to love Draco.

She allowed herself to love Neville.

She allowed herself to love Remus.

She allowed herself to love Mad-eye.

_And love had hurt her. _

Harry had hurt her; when he accused her of siding with "_mass murdering Sirius Black_", when he got mad about her parents.

Neville had hurt her; when he blamed her for her parents.

Sirius had hurt her; when he came back too broken to love her.

Angelina had hurt her; when she betrayed her so publicly, with Fred.

Draco had hurt her; when he let rivarly come between them, when he let his father hurt her.

And Fred...how many times had Fred hurt her?

"_Too many to count_..." she whispered to herself.

Fred repeatedly hurt her. He lashed out and accussed her, never giving her the benefit of the doubt. He had betrayed her with her best friend. He never once gave her a chance to defend herself. He didn't listen. He accussed, and pointed fingers and shouted and insulted, _trying _to hurt her. It's what he did. She passed it off that he was a passionate person, because he was. Fred was passionate. He loved passionately, he hated passionatley, he fought passionately and defended passionately. And everytime he hurt her, she'd forgive him. He'd do something sweet, and she'd remember how much she loved him. How happy she was with him. How he centered her in a world that loved to take the ground out from under her.

It _scared _her. This love scared her more than she'd ever admit. Fear was a lack of control. She never admitted it scared her. Fred, love...it was terrifying and sometimes it paralyzed her. Love was new, love was scary. She had never felt it before. She had seen it when she went out, but she never understood it. She hadn't ever thought she could feel love, in all its forms. Exasperation, when Draco would once again get sucked into his pure-blood cycle. Protective, when Neville would, as always, get hurt doing something relatively safe. Unconditional, when it came to Harry. Understanding, when it came to Sirius. And fierce when it came to Fred. There were so many different kinds of love. When Fred would pull her close, she felt safe. When he kissed her in front of everyone, she felt cared for. He made her feel like she mattered. He brought her into a completely new and unstable world of emotions, and then he just...just left her in there.

She had always had a wall. A wall. A very strong, cold, hard wall, keeping her from caring too much, from getting hurt. And then Fred came and he hacked away at it without even trying, without her even noticing until it was too late to rebuild it. And everything was fine, and wonderful and she was happy, and then BANG! Out of nowhere, the hurt she had hid from came and knocked her off her feet. And then everything was back in a good place. And then something else would come along and knock her right back down. And again and again. How many times was she expected to get back up? What would happen if she just stayed down?

Because right then...it's what she wanted to do. Just stay down. Not to get back up. Maybe she couldn't get back up. That would be alright...because then she wouldn't be able to fall.

She had never fallen so hard, never had the world ripped out from under her so fast. She hadn't even seen it coming. It came out of nowhere and decked her right in the face, like a rogue bludger. And it hurt. It hurt so bad. She felt embarrassed, and angry and humiliated and scared and sad and betrayed and confused. How could he do that? How could they do that? To her?

Everything...everything had gone in slow motion. She could remember all the shocked faces, the hurried apologies and excuses. The shouting. Her heart breaking into a million pieces inside her chest. Her breathing stopping. Her mind freezing. Her head shaking back and forth. Her legs moving, somewhere, anywhere. To here. To the Shrieking Shack. To the closest thing she had to Sirius. To a time when everything was just a little bit simpler.

She brought a hand and tangled it into her hair, her face hidden in her knees as she remembered.

_"Did you fuck Angelina?" she asked. _

_Fred opened his mouth and closed it, shaking his head quickly and shooting a pleading glance to George who stood rooted to the spot, staring at Angelina who stared at the floor. _

_"Wh-" _

_"Did you?" Aero asked more forcefully. _

_"Aero, I-" _

_"Tell her damn it! Tell her what you did!" Katie shouted. _

_"You've got it all wrong!" Angelina cried. _

_"Well then explain it, why don't you?" George snapped. _

_Angelina stared at him in shock. _

_"George? George no, it wasn't...it wasn't like that..." she pleaded. _

_"Aero, love please-"_

_"Don't. Call. Me. That." she whispered harshly. _

_Fred looked so broken, so ready to cry as he reached out to touch her and she flinched away, never breaking eye contact. _

_"Aero...I didn't, I swear I didn't! I never slept with her!" he cried, tears in his eyes. _

_"And I'm supposed to believe you?" she shouted, her voice breaking. _

_"Please Aero please! You have got to understand!" he begged. _

_"How could you fuck my brother?" George shouted angrily. _

_"I didn't! George I wouldn't!" Angelina sobbed. _

_"Right, right. So all the looks you give him, when I catch you staring at him in classes? I should've known! I can't believe I was so stupid!" he thundered. _

_"No, George! You don't understand!" Fred said. _

_"Then tell me! Tell me what you did!" he shouted, turning on his brother. _

_Fred shrank back, seemingly shocked. He looked between his twin and his fiance, helpless. _

_"I didn't...I didn't sleep with her...I swear." he whispered. _

_"I. Don't. Believe. You." George growled. _

_"Georgie...**please**..."Fred begged. _

_"You shouldn't even be begging to me. You should be trying to explain it to your fiance! Explain how you could dump her and fuck her best friend! You're both **disgusting**!" He shouted. _

_"Aero...Aero it wasn't like that. Really. I would never..." Angelina pleaded. _

_Aero looked between the girl and her fiance through tear-fogged eyes. _

_"How could you?" she whispered. _

_"No. No. no no no no no! Aero No! I didn't...I could never! It was you, only you, I swear! I swear it's true!" _

_"And she's just supposed to believe you? She **trusted **you!" Harry roared, getting up to stand in front of her now. _

_"I know...but please, Aero...I didn't. I would never do that to you! Even when we weren't together it was you, always you!" Fred sobbed. _

_Aero was shaking by now. _

_"Then what did you do, Fred?" she asked brokenly. _

_"I...we...we almost...did...but, we stopped, last minute...we didn't..." Fred said, practically gasping for air. _

_"We didn't...I swear..." Angelina said, full on crying now. _

_Aero could feel the gazes of her fellow Gryffindors staring at them. It practically burned her skin. The pain in her chest was unbearable, she felt like she would throw up, and when her knees wobbled unsteadily, Harry gripped her elbow tightly in his own, letting her lean against him as she tried to make her brain function. _

_"What is ...almost?" she whispered. _

_Fred had tears down his face now. _

_"Almost...as in, almost. We...we tried to...but...I just kept seeing your face..." he whispered back. _

_Aero almost wanted to hug him. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to castrate him or hug him until his tears stopped dripping like acid on her heart and the broken face left her vision. _

_"You saw my face while trying to fuck my best friend? Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she wondered. _

_She leant her head onto Harry's shoulder, her hair falling into her face. She felt like she had no energy left, no more will to fight with him. _

_"Aero...please...this wasn't supposed to happen! It meant nothing! You were with Vaine, and I was trying to move on..." Fred pleaded. _

_"The difference being...I was with a new guy, with no ties to either of us...and you went after my best friend, someone we BOTH had ties to. In the process, I healed with Vaine, and then you crushed our trust and one of my friendships. And I never shagged Vaine...never even thought about it. But you ALMOST shagged Angelina. Like almost makes it better! You still thought about it! You wanted to! The both of you! Despite the fact you knew it would kill me! Was it payback? Because I lied to you about Sirius? Is that it? Because of a little lie, you tried to destroy me? You killed me! You killed our relationship, our trust! And just so that what? You could get Angelina on her back? Well job well done, you pathetic, disgusting piece of shit. Mission accomplished." she screamed hoarsely, shoving herself off Harry and screaming at them, breaking teh painful silence of the room that threatened to suffocate them all, tears streaming freely down her face before she spun around and ran from the common room, through the various hallways and through the passage to the shrieking shack._

Aero gripped her head, dropping the bottle with a crash, the glass shattering, and tangled her trembling hands in her hair and the tears came again and a strangled sob broke free from her chest. Pain gripped her as the emotions broke free from her chains, wrapping themselves around her, crashing through her so hard she felt her breath stop as she continued to rasp and cough and shake in her body wrenching sobs.

She had meant it. Mission accomplished. She had thought she'd never break, that she'd never be so broken, so vulnerable. But she had let him in. She had let him in and in the process of feeling that ever freeing feeling of love, he broke her. And she wasn't sure she knew how to put herself back together. Not this time. Last time...she repressed it all. She couldn't repress years of love, years of Fred. It was impossible. He was seared into her mind...into her heart. And the fact that one you love could hurt you this badly...hurt the most.

She sobbed again, her body folded in on itself, her forehead pressing into her knees. She felt so utterly alone...so broken and beaten and she just...didn't have the will anymore. That will power that kept her from buckling under the memories of her mother, that kept her from turning away from Sirius, that kept her strong with a smile on her face every day against all odds...that will was gone. it was crumbled into nothing, into unrecognizable particles of dust somewhere in the black pit that currently occupied the place where her heart once was and now lay tattered and bleeding.

And then something warm touched her shoulder and she flinched horribly, cutting herself on the glass around her. It was gentle, like it was trying to be comforting, but firm. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It wrapped around her, and she was brought back into something warm and firm that rose and fell soothingly behind her. The arms encircled her and shifted her, her ear pressing against the place where she could hear a battered, but whole and beating heart, carrying on inside like a good little soldier. A hand pressed her head there gently and she was in a lap, held like a fragile toddler, the other arm wrapped around the rest of her.

"_Harry_..." she whispered, her voice harsh to her ears that had reveled in the quiet, and hoarse from her sobs.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered into her hair, pressing a firm kiss there and held, rocking her slightly, like one would do to soothe an infant.

She listened and the only should she could hear was the beating, the rythmic beating of his little battered heart, still going.

She nodded her head, her eyes staring off into the dark corner of the room.

Aero looked down for an instant when he shifted. The knee visible below her was bleeding, the pants torn by the glass below them. He had come, he had found her, in the dark, by himself, and held her, not asking questions about her feelings or her thoughts, and sat in glass from her drinks for her.

"Listen to it." he urged her.

She did. She listened to its beating, the calm pace, the rythm. She listened until everything else disappeared. Until nothing else was in her mind. Just the beating of his living heart, continuously going, carrying on. The same heart that had lived through hell and back, the Durselys, the lack of love, the fighting, the fright, the loss, the anger, the hurt and the guilt. The one that loved happily and took the deaths, and the pain and the suffering and continued on, slowly healing, but never closing. She acknowledged that.

As her eyes drooped, and the exhaustion of her emotions finally collapsed on her, Harry's voice broke through the darkness to her.

_"If my heart can keep beating, than yours can too..."_


	19. Chapter 19 the bitch is back

****

Sorry for the long delay. This was ready last weekend, but dearest FF was having some issues where I couldn't get to my stories. *le sigh* but it seems we are back on line, chilluns! I'll have something up this weekend again too.

* * *

Three days. Three days she laid in that bed, staring through the slit between the curtains at the same spot on the floor, the one with the tiny burn mark on the wood. Three days of listening to the constant knocking. The constant bickering between the roommates. The constant urges for her to eat. For her to talk. For her to move. For her to get up and go to class. Three days of her silence. Three days of her catatonic state. Three days of encouraging words from Neville, three days of Harry having to take care of her like a baby, complete with feedings and showers, changing her from one pair of his sweatpants and baggy shirt to another. Three days of Katie claiming she was sick and doing her make-up work for her. Three days of Alicia sitting beside her, reading some romance novel, about how bumps in the road would come and bad things happened but the lovers were just destined to be together.

Alicia would read those books. Katie would talk the latest gossip. Ginny would talk about Qiudditch. Hermione would tell her about the new things she learned in her books. Aparrently someone told Tonks what happened, because her owl came everyday, with lengthy letters written in messy handwritting, just as they did from Desarie and even her absentee-Godmother, Ebony and her daughter Xoe. Harry would sit and brush her hair after her baths and would force food and water, in small amounts, down her throat.

George had taken up residence there as well. Hiding out from thou-who-cannot-keep-it-in-his-pants and the Slagawhore. He'd sit in the corner, sometimes with Lee, hanging out with the other boys in the dorm. They'd play exploding snaps, read Quidditch magazines, work on homework and eat meals there. Aero could hear them, she could hear everything. She could see everything. She just didn't have the energy to process it, or acknowledge it. Everything seemed to rush past her but she was stuck in time, frozen.

The pain had long ago receded. A void was left in its place. Like a blackhole, sucking all emotions and thoughts out of her. Nothing mattered. She couldn't bring herself to even look at Harry, let alone help him with his Umbridge and isolation problems. And if she could feel anything, it would be the immense guilt for that. She should be up, helping him. She should be there, sorting out his problems, her own problems. But she couldn't. She couldn't face the world, not yet. And she breifly wondered if she ever could.

If she got out of this bed, is she left Harry's dorm...the pain would come back. And if that happened, she would surely be crushed.

She recognized this with a sense of defeat. She had fallen, once again, but there was only one difference. This time...she couldn't get back up. There hadn't been anyone there at the bottom to catch her. Harry had tried, but he couldn't. He couldn't be expected to keep the weight of her on his shoulders for much longer. He already had the weight of the world bearing down on him. He'd buckle under the weight sooner of later. Later, preferably, but with their luck, it'd be sooner.

She felt constantly exhausted. Like her muscles were suddenly jelly. Her mind was peacefully blank and that place where her heart used to be? Where there used to be pain? Was gone. Her heart really had shattered and it'd only take once gentle breeze to come along and blow it away forever.

The knocking was there, as it had been the past three days. The constant knocking. It'd be easy to ignore, if it didn't continuously change tempos, the level of its sound. It's go fast to slow, loud to soft, creating beats and patterns or spaztic thuds. It was like the door was having mood swings. For three days. It had to be P.M.S. or something.

"Look, I like you, alright? You're my best mate's brother. But she's my **sister**, and that comes before **everything**. So stop knocking on my damn door!" _Harry_.

"If you'd just let me see her or George for a moment!" _Mayor of Douchbags._

"If you see George or not is none of my concern. For that you'll have to speak to Ginny. But as for Aero, I refuse. Access **_denied_**."

"Please, Harry! I just need to explain!"

"Ooh, I believe you explained enough the other night, mate."

"They don't understand! Please! I have to make them understand!"

"Alright, here's the deal. Think of your current situation as trying to go up river in a canoe that has _many _holes covered by _band-aids_, with no paddles. Don't go in there now and add another hole, because you will sink. And that waterfall behind you with the sharp, pointy big rocks? Yeah, that won't be so far away anymore..."

"I get it, I do. You're loyal and I respect that. But she's my _fiance_!"

"Yeah? Is that what she is? Because when I go in there, she's not a fiance, a girlfriend, a lover. She's a _broken _little girl who's just had her heart publicly stomped on. Actually, you and Angelina did it so thoroughly, you did a Mexican Hat dance on it. I don't see your fiance when I go in that room. I see my big sister who hasn't moved or spoken in three days, who is curled into a ball on my bed, whose eyes are dull. I see my big sister who is broken and I'm out of glue. So no, I don't think you do get it, mate. I think that by knocking on my door and hoping that she'll come out, you're not thinking of her. You're thinking of how you can talk your way out of this giant hole you've dug yourself into. So why don't you for once, put her above yourself and leave her alone."

And with that the door opened and she heard feet coming towards her, the curtains opening in back of her and the weight on the bed shifting. A form curled around her own and she felt the steady heartbeat again.

"Katie brought by your cloak, said there was something in it you might want." he said quietly and she felt him lay it gently on her legs.

He sighed, his breath making her hair move and fall into her face.

"I know you don't want to talk, and I don't blame you, but...eventually you'll have to talk, I hope you know that. Because I'm not learning sign language and Mimes are freaky and you're not into face painting." Harry said, trying to break the silence.

He heaved another sigh, pecked her on the top of her head and got up, patting the cloak on her legs before heading out to his next class. He'd come back later and try to get her to eat, saying she was losing too much weight for him.

The knocking had stopped now, but no doubt it would be back. _He'd _be back...

The dorm was silent. But it had no effect on her at all. She just continue to lay there on the bed and space out.

"Aero."

Aero blinked.

"Aero?"

...

"AERO!"

Her brows furrowed. For the first time in three days she was showing a sort of life at the familiar, _demanding _voice.

"Damn it, Aeroanna, pick up this mirror now young lady!"

"Now now, Sirius, don't yell at her. She's going through a hard enough time already."

"And? I've been there, I lived!"

"Yeah, but do you remember how you were back then with Daelyn?"

"..._Shuddup_. I just wanna talk to her."

"You're not talking to her, you're yelling at her. Ackowledge the difference."

"I am acknowledging it! I know the difference, but she's not answering and I know she's there!"

Aero wordlessly slid her hand down her leg and into the pocket, retrieving the bickering piece of glass. She could see amber eyes and then grey eyes, ovbiously fighting over mirror space.

"Ah, see, there she is. Told you she was bloody there the whole time!" Sirius cried in triumph.

"I never said she wasn't, I simply said don't yell. It's prattish."

"Did you just call me a prat?"

"I did not."

"No, I think you did."

"I said you're actions were prattish."

"Same thing."

"No, it's not."

"Same thing."

"No."

"Saaaaame. Thiiiiing."

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Yelling in my ear."

"I'm simply stating a point, which your over sensetive ears are victim to."

"They-wait, what?"

"Did I stump the know-it-all?"

"The only way you can stump me is with your stupidity, Padfoot."

"Now you're calling me stupid! First I'm a prat, now I'm stupid! Aero, are you hearing this!"

"_Yes, you're a stupid prat_."

...

"I thought you weren't speaking...?" Sirius pouted.

"_Sirius_!"

"What, if she's not going to be on my side, then she can got back to being quiet."

"You're such a child. Aero, pet, how are you feeling?"

"_Peachy_." she said in the same, dull, monotone.

She was no longer looking at the mirror, but back at the floor.

"Aeroanna Endora Black, in the name of Merlin's saggiest pants get the hell out of that bed!" Sirius thundered.

"No."

"N-no? Did you just say NO?" he sputtered.

"Did I stutter?" she asked dully.

"Sirius, you have the tact of an emotionally constipated monkey. Aero...we know what happened. Tonks told us, after Katie wrote to her in a panic. We know it's hard. We do. And we're sympathetic. But it's not healthy to lay in bed all the time." Remus reasoned.

Aero remained unresponsive. She knew what they'd say. It was the same thing everyone had been telling her. To move on, get over, let it go, don't let it get her down. As if the fact that the dissapointment she brought them wasn't hard enough already.

"Do you?" she muttered so quietly she could barely hear herself.

"Sorry? Do we what, love?" Sirius asked, gentler this time, apparrently caught off guard by the soft tone she used.

"Do you know how this feels? Really?"

Sirius hesitated. He excused Remus from the room and it was just the two of them. The silence dragged on and Aero actually found herself longing for the answer, hoping for an understanding.

"Yes." he replied quietly.

Aero began to run through her mind, looking for the moment Sirius had ever mentioned something about love.

"I have never told you before." he said, as if reading her unstable mind. "But I'll tell you now."

Aero waited patiently. She had all the time in the world, and for some reason the gruffness in Sirius's voice was soothing. It was familiar, safe...

"_I had known her since first year. Beautiful girl, funny and had a tongue like a dagger it was so sharp. She had the most amazing turquoise eyes I'd ever seen, and this golden hair, like it had been kissed by the sun. We were friends. The first years, up until third year, was full of childish stuff. I considered her family, like James and Remus, from the beginning. She just fit there, you know? She had a similar background, an unaccepting Muggle family, a spiteful sibling with another on the way. Third year things got weird between us. Turns out she liked me, and I liked her and neither one wanted to ruin that friendship_."

Aero felt the memories stirring behind her eyes. The first time she realized she was attracted to Fred, when he asked her out. They had originally feared wounding their friendship in third year as well.

"_But we started a relationship. She was my first girlfriend, in fact. And things were nice. But...of course there's always something that goes wrong, and at the time we hadn't been strong enough to withstand it together. We broke up, about fourth year, at the end. The summer was painful. I longed for her, but I had too much pride to forgive and forget, as did she. We went back to school for fifth year and I immediatley got a new girlfriend and swore I wouldn't get attached like I did with her. That way I couldn't get hurt again. She got a new boyfriend and everything was ...not fine, but civil. We'd get caught watching each other, we'd fight and that was the end of that civilty. We came up with these elaborate ways to get each other back.." _Sirius chuckled quietly at the memories in his head.

"_And eventually we did. We got back together and things were great. I felt better than I had in years, knowing that I had her again. She was this...calming presence in my life, keeping me centered. But she could just as easily rile me up, tilt my world out of focus. She was good at that. And we fought after some time, and our fights were legendary in our school. It was like...when two alpha wolves battle it out, or a Volcano and a Tornado clashing. But I realized I loved her, and she loved me and we tried to make it work. For awhile the fighting was fun. But then...things worsened and she went to her old boyfriend, and I went back to dating other girls and...we'd get back together, and breakup and so on. But when we were out of school...Merlin she just...broke me. She did something I found so unforgivable...she hurt me so badly, I did exactly what you're doing right now, only in James' place_."

Aero was frowning now. Sirius described a relationship similar to hers. Sure, she and..._him_, didn't fight as much as Sirius and this mystery woman did, nor did they break up as much, but they went through that. And when they did fight is was huge. And he had hurt her just as it appearred Sirius had been hurt.

So he did understand. He understood better than anyone who had tried to give her advice did.

"So what am I supposed to **do**...?" she whispered, her voice breaking.

She heard Sirius sigh heavily.

"I'd like to tell you not to do what I did but unfortunately for you, when Remus and Dumbledore say you're like me, they mean it, you're like me, with the good and the bad. So I could tell you to get out of that bed and face the world, but you won't. I could tell you not to let yourself go out of control, but you will. I could say not to lash out, not to hold onto this anger and betrayal, but no doubt you will. Because that's how I processed it, how I did things, how I got through it. I used to be the one who clung to control, who hated emotions and not being able to see my next move. But I let go, I lost control, I became ruled by my emotions and lashed out because of them and I became rash and impulsive. It made me do things I now wish I could take back, it landed me in Azkaban. And it truly scares me, to know that you could go down that same dark road, that you have the capability to do that. That you could end up like me, like I had once upon a time wished you would. It scares me, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you're going through this, of what you still have to go through. I'm not going to lie to you, kid. Things are only going to get harder as you get older. There's no going back to boys having cooties and the most danger you had was from flying to high on your broom. People are going to hurt you. This never gets easier. I wish I could tell you of a happier future, like I had invisioned for you every day I sat in that cell, but I can't, because I can't lie to you. I can't mislead you. Nor can I tell you what to do. I can't tell you how to act, how to feel. You have to find a way to get through this, and you will, because that is who you are. You'll get out of that bed and back into the world of the living on your own time, on your own terms."

There was a silence after that. Aero felt her bottom lip tremble, her body shake and her eyes water. Sirius had helped her, whether he knew it or not.

"Thank-you..." she said quietly.

"Anytime kiddo. Besides, I owe you. It's the least I could do, after what you've done for me. Now get some rest, you're going to need it."

"Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"...I...I love you too, Aer. _Don't let this bitch beat you_."

* * *

**FPOV**

Fred sat there and the ground outside the door, banging restlessly onto the wood. He hoped, with every fiber of his being, that she would open the door, shout at him through it, or at least react. Because then he'd know she heard him. If she could hear him, if she responded, she could listen to his explanation.

But he couldn't get what Harry had said out of his head. She had spoken or moved in three days...that very fact nearly made him give up and die right there on the floor. He had done that to her, he had broken her, just as Harry had said. He broke the girl he thought could never break.

But he couldn't listen to Harry for the life of him. He couldn't leave. He couldn't leave her. He wasn't going to lose her again, especially over something that should've never happened.

Just like he couldn't lose George. George was his twin, his brother, his best friend. He wasn't himself without him. And he hated the fact that he caused the biggest riff between them since they were four and he pretended to be George when he broke their mother's sewing needles pretending they were wands and got him whacked with a broom. It physically hurt to have Georgie so mad at him. He hadn't known until it was too late to say anything about George's fancy with Angelina. And to have him find out this way...

And Aero. Merlin, Aero was the love of his life, the person outside of George who actually knew him, who could put up with all the shit he put out, _which quite honestly was a lot_, and love him anyways. He knew how long it took her to finally trust him, how scared she was that he would hurt her or leave her, how she pushed that away and told him she loved him. He knew he overreacted sometimes, and he acted rashly, without thinking things through. But she always forgave him, even when she should've made him beg for it, should've kicked him to the curb. She didn't have to put up with him and his tantrums, but she did and she never threw it in his face. She loved and trusted him and he threw it away.

He broke the trust between not only his brother, but his love. Two birds with one stone, eh?

Just as he was sulking, continuing to knock, the sound of stamping feet came near him and he was harshly pushed away from the door, surely gaining a bruise on his shoulder in the form of slender fingers with sharp as hell nails.

"_Move it, Weasle!" _was shouted at him before the door slammed open and shut before he could even blink.

He raised his hand numbly back to the door. He had been at this for three days and would continue until she opened the door.

"Oh for the love of Merlin's Mother. You pitiful man."

His sister yanked him up by the arm and dragged him up to his dorm room, muttering under her breath before shoving him through the door and slamming it behind them. There was a flash of bright red hair flying around the room, or that's what it seemed to him, and he was sat on the bed, Ginny sitting on his trunk, staring at him, her lips pursed. In that moment she reminded him of his mother.

"Gin, now really isn't the time to talk. I've got things to do." he said.

"Like what? Stalking your ex-fiance?" she questioned.

"She's not my ex anything!"

"I beg to differ, big brother."

"Pardon me?"

Ginny sighed and dug through the bag on her shoulder. She brought up a box, messily unwrapped. She set it in her lap and lifted the lid gently, suddenly looking hesitantly at him before seeming to steel her determination and her hand went into the box. He could hear things moving around in there and she pulled up a necklace first and Fred felt his breath hitch. It was the necklace he had given Aero for Christmas one year. The one with her October birthstone in it that had taken him ages to save up for, doing chores around the house and for the neighbors.

Ginny handed it to him and he held it gently in his hands, staring down at it. She had given it back.

"But that doesn't mean we aren't still together, that we aren't still getting married!" He protested.

Ginny looked at him hard.

"Do you not understand the monumental fight that just occurred, Fred?" she asked him.

"We can get through that!" he said.

Ginny sighed again, heavier than the last, and reached once more into the box. She grasped something and kept it enclosed in her fist before laying it in his open palm.

She watched him as his eyes filled with tears yet again, as they had ever since Katie came down those common room stairs. They never seemed to stop crying.

There, in his palm, was his grandmother's engagement ring, the very one he had given to Aero not long ago. His lip trembled and the water poured down his cheeks and he hunched over, clutching the jewlery to his chest, his body shaking horribly.

How was this happening? They always got through things, no matter how bad they fought. She always forgave him and they could move on. Why was this so different?

"Doesn't that sound a bit like you took for granted that forgiveness?" Ginny asked quietly.

SHe had moved beside him, curling her small frame around his in the form of a hug, brushing the hair from his face and resting her chin on his shoulder.

He hadn't even known he had spoken aloud.

"I've seen you both fight, or well, rather heard it. And it's always been bad, every fight. You guys never really had an inbetween, did you? It was either really good or really bad in that relationship. But everytime you yelled and accused she forgave you. And now, you just assume she'll forgive you, no matter how bad you mess up. You took it for granted. Now you don't get her forgiveness, because she has none left to give."

Fred continued to cry. He knew she was right. She was always right. She always gave him advice on things, like getting Aero that necklace. She seemed to know Aero better than he did sometimes. He have a harsh sob and she pulled him tighter into her arms, making soothing sounds as she tried to calm him down.

He felt like he was breaking.

"I really messed up this time, didn't I?" he whispered, trying to crack a grin.

"Yeah, you did."

"But we weren't even together...I didn't think..."

"But that wasn't the point. You only broke up because you didn't trust her when you should have. You hurt her. So she tried to heal in a new relationship. And you, dated her best friend. Did you expect her to be okay with that? To just take it? And then you almost shagged her. Fred, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't..."

"Obviously."

"She hates me."

"Probably."

"She'll never forgive me."

"That's a safe assumption."

"George hates me..."

"George does not hate you. He's angry, sure, but he could never hate you. This'll blow over between you two. I'm not saying it'll all be forgotten, but it'll be forgiven."

"I hurt him..."

"At the time you didn't know you were hurting him. You never would've done any of that if you knew he fancied her."

"Doesn't matter..."

"It does, Fred. You're his twin, your bond will not be broken over some shameless slag."

"Why are you comforting me? You love Aero..."

Ginny sighed and they moved back against the bed, Fred still burrowed in his sister's arms.

"I think you simply weren't thinking, you never meant to hurt anyone. You were hurt by the break-up too. Yes, you were in the wrong, but you hurt yourself as well as Aero. And yes, I love Aero, she's like the sister I never had. And I'm angry that she's been hurt. But I'm more angry at Angelina, who knew exactly what she was doing and didn't care. Because you were hurt, you were vulnerable and looking for comfort like Aero had, and Angelina took advantage of that. She wasn't hurt, or emotionall distraught. She knew Aero was hurting and you were off limits but she still accepted you and still almost shagged you and then held it over Aero's head until Katie made the whole bloody thing explode. I'm not mad at you, and even if I was, you're my brother. I can overlook what shite things my brothers do."

Fred trembled against her and she held him tighter. For the first time since the agrument Fred felt like someone was on his side.

"I keep knocking...I keep hoping she'll open the door...I can't just stop, Gin..."

"I'm not telling you to."

"Why?"

"Because as long as you're knocking, she knows you're there...Fred this isn't going to be easy. You're going to have to put up one hell of a fight if you want her back. Because Merlin knows Aero fights like hell herself."

"And you're on my side?"

"Of course. I love you two together."

"Even if it means going against..._Harry_?" he asked, brigning his head up enough to see his baby sister blush scarlet.

"Shut up." she muttered as seeing his grin and shoved him, making him topple off the side of the bed with a suprised _oof _and a _thud_.

"That wasn't a nice thing to do to your brother..." he said from somewhere down below.

"It's not nice to tease your sister either."

"I didn't shove you off the bed!"

"I didn't shove you, you fell."

"Wha-did not!"

"You giant klutz."

"You're just so mean to me..."

"Go cry a river somewhere else, you've already soaked my shirt."

* * *

**APOV**

"And he just sided with him! He said that you all weren't in the relationship at the time and it wasn't cheating!" Katie cried in frustration as she sat on her bed.

"Is that right?" Aero replied from the bathroom.

"Yes! He's such a...such a...such a-"

"Guy?" Aero supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, one of those! Horrible creatures, aren't they? _I'm so done with him._ Why the hell did God create men?"

"Because vibratores can't mow the lawn." Aero said casually as she brushed her hair.

Katie laughed and managed an "**_exactly_**!" before Alicia started sputtering at the turn of the conversation.

"Don't be such a virgin." Katie chided.

"Don't be such a bitch." she retorted.

"Girls, calm down. I can't stand the bickering." Angelina said suddenly, coming into the room and confidently walking to her trunk.

"_Excuse _me?" Katie asked, arching a blonde eyebrow. "If you can't stand it, sit the hell down, whore."

"You know, I get you're all loyal-best-friend to Black and everything, but watch your mouth when you talk to me."

_"Or what, you'll fuck her boyfriend too?"_

Angelina whipped around to see the bathroom door open and Aero standing there, dressed in her tastefully low-cut white blouse, pleaded black skirt and black sandle platform wedge shoes, looking completely calm and collected now, a smirk on her face and a raised eyebrow as she stared at her.

"Black, I, I didn't know you were back in this dorm." Angelina said, regaining her cool facade after her momentary shock.

"_Black_? Aw, back to last names, Angie? And here I thought we were such great friends." Aero said, giving a laugh, her eyes practically dancing with dark amusement in the light.

"And besides, it is my dorm. But please, if you feel _threatened _or uncomfortable in anyway, feel free to use the couch in the common room." she said with a smirk.

Angelina straightened her back and curled her lip, looking at Aero like she was last year's fashion trend.

"I don't feel threatened." she replied confidently.

Aero raised her head slightly, looking like that was the answer she was hoping for. She walked slowly, like a predator, towards Angelina and stopped in front of her, so close they were practically touching, and cocked her head with a dark smile and said almost playfully;

"_Well you should_."


	20. Chapter 20 Bonnie and Clyde

"_What's with that hairstyle, Johnson? Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?"_ Pansy shrieked from the bleachers.

Ordinarily, Aero wou react and come to Angelina's defense when the new captain spared her a glance after the comment. But after everything, Angelina seemed to let this new captain title get the best of her and engorge her competetive ego and now seemed to think she didn't need anyone's help for anything. So Aero did exactly what the new Angelina would have her do. Nothing. Besides, even if Angelina wasn't being a complete stuffed up bitch about everything, she still wouldn't help her. But she might feel a twinge of sympathy for the girl and the embarrassing comments.

Aero instead chose to ignore the comments to her captain and fly steadily beside George, who ignored the comments as well, despite teh twitch of his eye, the only sign of his annoyance. George may feel sympathy for the devil, but George seemed suseptable to sypathy for most living creatures in general, whether or not they seemed to have the very fires from hell burning in their souls.

"Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling? Sure you don't need a lie-down? It's been what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that must be a record for you, right?" Draco called.

Now, commenting in such a completely immature way to Harry, that was different all together. Aero remained her calm exterior though as she waited for the hard Bludger to come her way. She cast a glance to George who shot the Bludger her way and swung her broom around, catching sight of her mark before arching her arm back and slamming her bat into the ball and watched it fly downwards and into the little group of Slytherins who yelped and shouted, and in Pansy's case screeched as if a nuclear missile had just plummetted towards her.

She allowed herself a momentary grin in satisfaction at the halt in commenting before Angelina swooped in on her.

"**Black**, what the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just go aiming at people whenever you damn well please!"

"My apologies, _Captain_. I didn't mean to make the team feel left out. Next time I'll aim for you instead." Aero said before flying off to Katie's side, a fuming Gryffindor left in her wake.

The rest of the practice proceeded horribly, with Fred giving Katie a defective pill that made her practically become a red waterfall on a broom, Angelina shouting at a tamato red Ron, and the Slytherins getting progressively louder, and syncronized, in their harassment.

Later that night Ginny sat on her bed, flipping angrily through a Quidditch Magazine for the HolyHead Harpies.

"What has crawled up your butt?" Katie asked from her own bed, wash cloth to her nose.

"My brother."

"_Which one?"_ Katie and Aero chorused.

"Percy. He wrote to Ron, telling him it'd 'be in his best interest if he severed ties with Harry'. That git." she seethed.

Aero sighed.

"Did you expect anything less?" she wondered, continuing her crunches on the floor.

"Harry's never done anything to him!"

"It's all politics, love. That's something you have to understand. Percy wants to move up in the power pyramid, which means he has to be careful of who he associates with. Your family is known for allying with Dumbledore. So he severed ties with you. Harry is known for...being Harry, so of course he'd have no problem severing with him. And he really is a git though, so he never got along with Fred and George, so when Ron became Prefect, he encouraged him to follow his own path, which meant Ron severing ties with the family and Harry as well. It's always been this way, Ginny. For centuries, it's been what Narcissa calls the 'Three P's."

"What are the three p's?" Alicia asked, peeking around the top of her rather thick looking romance novel.

"Politics, Power and Purity. Purity being Pure-blooded. See, as much as people like to believe everything has changed, it never will. The world and its views are still the same. You have to ally yourself with the strongest people, step on all the right toes, say the right things, avoid scandal at all costs, and be prepared to get your hands dirty, with blood money and blackmail and such. You have to be willing to do whatever you have to do to get what you want, to get power. And in the end, it all comes down to blood purity. Who you descend from, what your children do, the rest of your family. My family in particular is famous for it. We call it "pruning the tree". It's why so many people have been disowned. We can't have disgraces polluting the family." Aero said casually, curling her chest to her knees before going back down.

"T-that's just horrible! I'm sure you've got it wrong, Aero! No one's that cruel, not anymore!" Alicia protested.

"I wish I was. Believe me, I work at the Ministry. Why do you think your father hasn't gotten any promotions, Ginny? Because he's a decent human being who refuses to soil himself and step on other people just to get money and power. He's a pure-blood, from a long line of pure-bloods, so he could be very successful within the Ministry if he acted like Percy. It's a vicious game. My family itself is just full of scandal but everything has happened behind closed doors, locked away. Otherwsie they wouldn't have been the powerful people they were, my name itself wouldn't be enough to give me power over lesser known families. It's horrible, and cruel and it's horrifying to be apart of it, but I have to. Percy is following in the footsteps of his blood."

"Of his blood?" Katie asked.

"You mean the Black blood?" Ginny asked.

"Yes. He's not the first one in the family to do that. Step on his own to get what he wants. There may be a point in time he'll regret what he did in his youth, but as of now he sees this as what he wants, the only way, his only option. He thinks he's doing the right thing. No amount of your mother's tears and the names you and your siblings spit at him will change his mind. He's got the determination Cedrella has, her sisters had, that every Black is naturally born with."

"The same one you have." Katie stated with a grin.

Aero stopped and rested an arm across her knees, turning slightly to glare at Katie.

"As much as I hate to be compared to those people, yes, I have certain acquired traits from them. Traits the Angelina seems to bring out in me, _the bitch_." She muttered, glaring a hole into the ground.

"You'll just have to get her back." Ginny said.

"Whose side are you on, anyways? I mean, Fred and George are both your brothers. Fred hurt George. You're friends with Aero and Fred hurt her." Katie wondered.

Ginny sighed.

"I'm trying really hard not to pick sides. Aero is in the right to deal with her emotions any way she sees fit. But that doesn't mean that Fred is some cheating bastard either, or that I don't hope you two work it out. You're amazing together. And George has every right to be angry and hurt as well. So, me being their sister, will make sure that you and George both get your space as long as you need it. But I'm also going to help Fred try to win back your loyalties. It's Angelina that we have the most common ground on. That slag needs to pay, and Aero is just the one to make sure she does." Ginny explained.

"I knew I liked you." Katie said with a nod of approval, which resulted in a pained groan and a complaint that the world was spinning again and Alicia telling her she still had yet to recover from the blood loss and stop moving around.

"You know, how are you going to pay her back?" Alicia asked.

Aero smirked.

"All in good time, ladies. But I assure you, Angelina Johnson will pay dearly."

* * *

"Potter! How the bloody hell have you landed yourself in detention again! Are you really that thick, or are you trying to get off the team? How is it possible for you not to keep your temper for one class? Are you trying to drive me insane?" Angelina cried at the table the next night.

"Despite what you may think, Johnson, not everything everyone does revolves around you. Quiet the opposite actually. It rarely ever concerns you." Aero retorted before biting into her dinner roll.

"Well this particular matter doesn't concern you, Black!"

"Au contraire, Angie. See, Harry here is family, so if you say one more insulting word against him, I'll cut your tongue out." Aero said calmly, almost daringly.

"He's been an idiot. You can't seriously condone his actions, losing his temper like that!" she shouted.

"Don't do this, Angie. Besides, you're the one losing your temper here. Let's not press mine."

"Someone needs to talk some sense into him! If you won't do it, I will! I won't have him do this to the team!"

"Calm down. You're bloody pissing me off."

"I don't care if I-_AHH_!" Angelina cut off, crying suddenly, her hands going to her mouth. One came away with a string of blood attached to her finger, her eyes wide and full of tears.

"I did tell you to mind your tongue and my temper. It's called multi-tasking. I expected a better performance really, I mean you are a professional at it. You can betray me and shag my boyfriend at the same time. It's quite impressive."

Aero easily took a sip from her glass and watched with a sense of satisfaction as Angelina bolted from the table and out the Great Hall doors.

"That was unnecessary." One of Angelina's friends, Anthea Rosewood, protested.

"It's also unnecessary for you to have so much hair on your head. I'll gladly get rid of those locks for you." Aero offered with a smile.

Anthea pursed her lips before following her friend's trail.

Aero glanced over at the twins to see Lee sitting between them. Fred was looking shocked and George hid a smirk in his drink.

"What'd you do to her?" Hermione said, appalled.

"Cutting hex. Silently of course, wouldn't do, making a scene." Aero replied.

"You're really going to go after her, aren't you?" Harry wondered.

Aero grinned in reply.

"Do you have any boundaries?"

"None whatsoever. That's the good thing about being emotionally unstable, like myself. _No boundaries_."

* * *

Alicia refused to go into the dormitory that night until everyone was alseep. She was going to go sleep on the couch if she had to until Lee commented that furniture in the common room wasn't as comfortable in the morning and you felt like your back was snapped in half and suggested she sleep his dorm on George's old bed, since he was camping it out with Ron in his dorm. Alicia accepted, blushing adorabley _(in Aero's opinion anyways)_ and bid them goodnight before following him up the stairs, Katie and Aero making cat calls and wolf whistles the whole way.

But the whole reason Alicia refused to sleep in the girls dorm was because she could read the look in Aero's eyes. And it made shivers run down her spine, like when she'd through a ghost. And she was right. But she had no reason to worry. That was Angelina's.

Aero and Katie sat on their beds, flipping through their History books and chatting aimlessly, arguing over what color looked best with Selena's skin tones, since next Hogsmeade trip they were going out shopping for Aero's adorable little goddaughter.

"She's blonde. We're not buying her _that_." Katie protested.

"She likes that color though."

"I don't care. No goddaughter of my best friend is going out looking like a blind straight man dressed her."

"What do you have against straight guys?"

"..._have you never met one?" _

Aero promptly rolled her eyes at her friend's antics.

"_Where the fuck are all my clothes!"_

"Well, it appears someone has gotten wind of our scheme, my lovely." Katie snickered.

"It seems so, dear. How embarrassing, the poor girl." Aero said, tsking.

The bathroom door slammed open and Angelina stood there, just out from her bath, in a small towel.

Both girls raised their eyebrows in mock surprise at her entrance.

"Angie, put some clothes on. How indecent." Aero said, shielding her eyes with her hand.

"Honestly, I knew you were a little lose, but we don't swing that way. Stop trying t oseduce us." Katie cried, burying her head into Aero's shoulder as if to hide, her laughter shaking the both of them.

"This. Is not. Funny." Angelina seethed.

She whipped her wand and tried to accio her clothes...but none came.

She turned, almost robotically, or demonically to be more precise, to the two giggling girls on the bed.

"What did you do with my clothes?"

Aero and Katie turned to look at each other and shrugged innocently.

"Anywhere. " the replied in unison.

"Anywhere? Where is anywhere?"

"Great hall."

"Fred's dorm."

"Owlery."

"Shrieking Shack."

"Quidditch pitch."

"Slytherin Common room."

"Hufflepuff common room."

"I believe the Ravens have gotten some too, perhaps."

Angelina gave an unholy shriek that sent the girls into new peals of laughter.

"Give me your clothes then!" Angelina shouted, waving her wand.

"Our clothes are gone as well, honey bunches. They're under lock and key, away from that spiteful wand." Katie assurred her.

Angelina eyed the clothes they wore, as if ready to rip them off for herself.

Not like there was much. Aero had grown less conservative since her breakdown. She and Katie both had small shorts on, Aero's black and Katie's blue. Aero had ripped fishnets on underneath and black kneehigh boots, whereas Katie preferred barefeet. Aero had a long white shirt on, somewhat covering the top of her shorts, with a black heart on it and a sleevless open black vest as long as the shirt, as opposed to Katie's baby pink tank. So there wasn't much for Angelina to get her hands on.

"Nuh-uh, cupcake. I'm not converting to nudism for you." Aero said, shaking her head like a child.

"But you should be used to this. I mean, I bet you had even less that this twoel look on when you tried to shag your best friend's man, right?" Katie asked innocently.

"Hey, that reminds me of a joke I heard the other day." Katie said excitedly.

"What's that?"

"What did the slut's right leg say to the slut's left leg?"

Aero pondered for a moment before shooting a calculating to a still seething, towel-clad roommate.

"Nothing. They've never met." she answered.

Angelina gave another god-awful shriek that sent the girls scurrying from the room laughing hysterically.

They nearly rushed over Ginny and Hermione on their way out of the common room and didn't stop running until they reached a darker hallway.

Katie sagged against the wall, smothering her laughter as they tried to catch their breath.

"This is...going to be...fun." she panted, her eyes glinting in the moonlight.

Aero smirked.

"Well Bonnie, I'm gonna go get some fresh air. Stay out of trouble, hear?" Aero teased as she started walking away towards the doors.

"Don't stay out too late, Clyde, we got to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for London's bitchiest bridge tomorrow!"

Aero sniggered and walked out the doors.

SHe closed her eyes as she snuck out, relishing in the night air and basking in the Moon's glow. She liked to pretend she was alright, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't still feel like the world was crashing down around her. It was just Angelina's payback gave her a focus, so she didn't have to pay mind to the pain she would feel everytime Fred's name was spoken or she saw him in class.

Not like she'd admit that. She wasn't going to be weak again. She'd been weak too many times in her life already. No way was she going to break again, or let stupid emotions get in the way. it was a mock of her character to behave in such a way.

She sighed and ran a hand lazily through her hair, moving to lean against the wall. And then she snapped her head up, catching the sound of a twig snapping in the distance. It was one of the good things about being an Animagus Canine. Like Sirius, she got a taste of the senses.

And then someone came into view and walked to stand beside her. He was tall, a very, very muscular. Not like the type you get fomr just playing Quidditch, this guy was massive. He was taller than her, even Fred and George, by about a foot an a half, towering over her petite 5 feet. She could see the tints of blonde in his hair and the sparkling of his eyes as he stared up at the moon, which was almost full. His leather rustled as he shifted his weight and the scent of smoke filled the air and his hand moved from it's hiding place by his side to stick a cigarette in his mouth.

She watched, transfixed as he lazily parted his mouth slightly and breathed out, the smoke twirling around them.

"You seem tense, short stuff." his voice rumbled.

It was deep, like it was naturally husky, and a playful tone sent a shiver down her spine.

"A little bit, Sasquatch." she replied.

He gave a rumbling laugh and she watched his relaxed posture shake slightly.

He turned his head to her now and she could barely make out his features, but she could tell he was in her year, and not a bad mug either.

"Want a smoke?" he asked her.

Aero halted. She knew she shouldn't. She knew it was bad, and she'd get lung cancer or something and her teeth would turn yellow and she'd get wrinkles and Remus would kill her. But that was just it. This guy was relaxed, not caring that anyone would tell him off for smoking, not worrying about being caught out here. He didn't care. He was doing what he wanted. Maybe she wanted Remus and Harry and Sirius and Fred and everyone else mad at her. Maybe she just didn't care anymore. Maybe it was finally time to do something for herself...something she wanted.

"Sure." she said, taking the cigarette from him and putting it to her lips and sucked in a breath.

And then bent over coughing, choking. She heard a booming laugh above her and a large hand slap her back.

"Someone's first time?" he teased.

Aero felt her face get hot.

"Just take it easy, Tiny Tim. Relax. Take it slow." he prompted her.

She tried again, and she felt it burn her throat slightly, but that may have been from the coughing she did that nearly killed her. But she didn't give more than one or two...or maybe four measley coughs this time.

"There you go. Relax. This is to relax you. You're stressed out, just calm down and let it go." he said.

Aero closed her eyes as she breathed in and held for a moment before opening her eyes and breathing out, looking up at the moon, watching the smoke twirl in front of her.

She felt her shoulders relax. Maybe it was the smokes, or maybe it was his presence, she wasn't sure. But she felt relaxed for the first time in days. She leaned her head back against the wall of the castle and repeated.

"Feel better?" he asked.

She opened an eye and glance at him with a smirk, handing it back and watched him take a drag.

"You're corrupting me." she said.

She saw his teeth, a marvelous white, in the dark as he grinned down at her.

"I won't tell if you won't. After all, you miss Black have a reputation to uphold. What would the student body think if they found out you choked up on your frst drag?" he teased.

She smirked and stepped to face him, leaning up on her toes and their lips brushed against each other, his hands then gripping her waist.

She looked him in the eye and arched and eyebrow. If she leaned in just a little more, she'd be kissing this mysterious stranger. One hand wound up to his silky hair, threading her fingers through it while the other found his occupied smoking hand. As she spoke their lips brushed against each other, making her heart race at the adrenaline of letting loose.

"_Then I'd have to kill you_."

Before she took his cigarette and twirled out of his reach, laughing and taking a drag. Maybe letting loose would be more fun than she originally thought...

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I in no way promote teenage sex, bullying, underage drinking or the use of any drugs. Just like I do not own Harry Potter. I do not promote those things. **


	21. Chapter 21 The Warning

**Okay, let's see here...thank-you to the reviewers who notified me about the other story. Much appreciated. **

**Now, I know that the whole Depression part Aero went through didn't last very long, I understand. But I can't see Aero being the one to lay down and wallow. It feels too...Bella Swanish for me *no offense to any twihards reading this story. I just didn't like that part*. SO I made her get a reality check, finally acknowleding the world outside her pain was still going on. She wasn't the only one who went through this. It was time to move on. SO I apologize to anyone who would've liked a longer session of that, but it just wouldn't be Aero, but that was a very important part of Aero's character being shown, her being broken down, realizing and coming to terms with everything and then still getting back up. Besides, it was three days, and she had been pretty bad, I mean HARRY gave her BATHS (strictly siblingly but no doubt awkwardly). **

**And yes, the way she's dealing with her feelings is interesting, and probably not exactly healthy, but fun none the less. What she's doing is...channeling. It gives her a focus, control to get revenge. If she has control she feels better, as said in the last chapters. With her emotions, she's unstable, out of control. She doesn't know how to handle them, how to be out of control. It's something she needs to learn. And she may be...a little bitchy now. :) **

**And yes, I realize that Fred and Angelina didn't exactly CHEAT. But they weren't honest about it. They lied and betrayed via omission. True, Aero had some empty-classroom-touches with Vaine, but true to her word, she never had sex with him, never almost had sex or even thought about it. Because she still loved Fred, and in the back of her mind, that'd be as good as cheating. And while Fred had no idea George liked Angie, he betrayed his brother because when he DID find out, he said nothing. And I don't mean to make Fred and Angie the bad guys and Aero and George the victims...there's always two sides to every story. **

* * *

_"Protect her, fight for her, kiss her, love her, hold her, make her laugh. But don't make her fall if you don't plan to catch her."_

Her heels clicked on the floor, not even trying to conceal her presence. The exact opposite really. As for now, she wanted Angelina to know she was coming. She wanted her to know she was there, always watching, and despite teh fact that she'd know Aero was there, she couldn't do a _damned_ thing about it.

Aero walked with a smirk on her face, confidence in her step. If her house mates hadn't seen what went down that horrible night, they never would've been able to tell anything had changed, except maybe for the vicious glint her eyes seemed to hold now. But this was far from what she actually felt. When she allowed herself to completely feel anything for longer than a second, she felt as if her knees would give out. As if she wanted to crawl into a dark corner of the Shrieking Shack and just die. She had thought about death in fact. Aero was not one to be suicidal though. She felt like she never ran out of options, like she always had a plan Z. But that didn't mean that for a fleeting second during those three days she didn't consider jumping from the dorm window. She would've only felt the physical pain for a moment, if even, and it would've been such a pleasant change from her inner torture.

See, Aero knew she wasn't the perfect Black. She knew that better than anyone else. She didn't intentionally disrespect anyone. She didn't look down on others if she could help it. She didn't see herself up on a golden pedestal. She couldn't even manage to order a house elf around or gain entrance to Slytherin House. Instead she had friendly chats with Dobby and went into Gryffindor, the rival house. She had even gone so far from the status quo, that she was disowned.

But she knew she also couldn't completely deny her genetics either. She was walking a fine line now. She had been forced to that line since the day she laid eyes on Fred Weasley that day on the train. She should've known then not to get attached, she should've known to be wary of the Weasleys. She should have known, but she didn't. And ever since that fateful day, when Merlin decided to side up to God and tag-team her, she had been going down into a spiral, heading to that dark tunnel where no light enters. She should have been..._should have should have should have!_

She SHOULD have done a lot of things, hindsight, but she didn't. She was a Black. She knew all about them. She knew to be wary and cautious of the line. It was a thin, fragile line that was always in her peripheral vision, ever since she was a child and Narcissa taught her daily about the family. She should have been more careful. Done something more. Gone in the opposite direction of said line, but she didn't. She failed _**herself**_, this time.

She had really done a doozy too. She didn't just let herself be swallowed up by emotions. She let herself be swept up by this inconsicuential, fleeting emotion that Fred had called "_love_". Why anyone wanted love was beyond her. It did nothing but hinder oneself. Before she hadn't been afraid of hurting anyone, because she hadn't _cared_. And then Fred came and all of that went out the window. He made sure of that. She allowed herself to be caught up in emotions.

And Blacks don't do well with emotions. They prefer solitude. They prefer solitude and practical thinking. They're ambicious, and selfish and unconcerned about anyone and everything else that doesn't solely benefit themselves. And she had now accepted she was a Black. It didn't matter how different she did things, how much she tried to distance herself. She was a Black, right down to the cold blood that ran from her frozen heart.

And she knew that line was there. The line most people didn't have. This line...this line was the one so many Blacks crossed, whether knowingly or accidentally. The one that once you crossed, you never crossed back over. You just got worse. There was no undoing it. And she was toeing that line. Thanks to everybody and their stupid emotions, to her own emotions. Really, that love she thought she felt was a mock of her character. All that happened was that she dropped her guard and got blindsighted. She fell, because she had allowed herself to fall. But she couldn't crawl from this hole she dug for herself. She could only keep going.

The line...the line was the line of mentality. The line seperating the sane from the _in_sane. Most Blacks kind of...flew over that border more than stepped really. Walburga was insane, that much was clear. Sirius had referred to her as Bipolar, at least when he was a child. He said she probably just went right into insanity when the war picked up and Regulus died and he was sent to Azkaban. Her mother was insane, though with just exactly **what** she wasn't sure. The list went on and on. The whole family was prone to insanity. And if she wasn't careful, she'd be just another one of the list. And with the feelings she had now, who knew what she'd do...

But all that turmoil was just the little boxed feelings she kept down deep inside. Outside she was confident and calm, like she didn't have a care in the world. Like Fred and Angelina were merely itches she had scratched and was done with, moving on to another. Inside of course, she felt enraged. Enraged and oddly vindictive. There was no doubt in her mind, Angelina Johnson and Fred Weasley would pay dearly. They would hurt as she had been hurt, and she didn't care who got in her way.

She turned into the classroom and sat casually sat down in a seat, crossing a leg up over the other and leaning back, pretending to ignore the stares she got from her housemates. Everyone had know idea she'd be returning to classes. Little did they know she wasn't going to allow such irrelevant feelings and two worthless people to break her. It was pathetic and shameful.

Katie came in and sat next to her. Which just so happened to be in front of George and Lee. And a few rows over were Fred and Angelina. Aero couldn't help but smirk at how alone they looked, though it did hurt a tiny bit that they were sitting together.

", so _kind_ of you to grace us with your presence." Umbridge said, her smile planted on her face and her voice sweet, contrasting nicely with her hard eyes.

"Well, I couldn't stay away too long. You could go into withdrawals." Aero replied back, just as much sugar in her voice.

"Ms. Bell said that you had fallen ill. It's so _wonderful_ to know it wasn't anything life threatening."

"Isn't it? I couldn't bare to leave you one student down. I know how much you just _love_ your children." Aero said, raising an eyebrow and the corner of her lip quirked.

Umbridge gave a final smile and turned around to wave her wand at the board.

"N.E.W.T.s is a final testing of your abilities-"

Aero droned her out and instead leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Fred and Angelina with a calculating look. She knew just how to get them back. It would require sacrifice, but the end would be worth it. But she couldn't do it on her own. No. No, this was bigger than just her.

She turned to glance back at Umbridge, who was still talking. Aero caught the eye of someone else in the classroom, who was blatantly staring at her. He cracked a dimpled grin and Aero pursed her lips, scrutinizing the Gryffindor. She didn't know everyone in the year, it was too large to be sure and she had never taken care to learn them, so why was this boy staring at her like that? She tilted her head up, silently asking a question.

He in turn slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out the top of a white box.

"_Ah..."_ Aero murmured in remembrance.

"What?" Katie asked her.

Aero shook her head. She had explained to Katie what had happened the other night, and Katie had been ecstatic, wanting to know who it was. But Aero was reluctant to release the name once she figured out who it was, which she still hadn't. She didn't want to share. As childish as that sounded, Aero liked her secrets. Maybe it was the part that wanted to spite Fred, who was all about honesty and made her reveal all her cards. She didn't like revealing her cards, she often feared she'd have no advantage in the game when she did. So this secret boy was just that..._her secret_.

He grinned back at her before another beside him tapped him roughly on the shoulder and he turned around. Aero took the oportunity to stealthily take him in, stealthily because she had to be careful of Katie's observant gaze.

He was tall, even sitting down that much was obvious. His shoulder were broad and his muscles moved under his thin white dress shirt. His hair was a golden blonde and spiked, his skin a golden tan and his eyes had been an ice blue that practically danced in the light when she looked at them. And Merlin, he had dimples. She couldn't help but run her eyes over his form. She wondered if the rest of him was big as well. Ugh, she was just horny. She had grown too accustomed to having a boyfriend to shag anytime she wanted to.

She glanced at Katie, who was looking in that direction. Aero felt a faint stab of panic but traced her friend's gaze to the one who had tapped his shoulder. He was a tad smaller in comparison to her own blonde god, but probably just as tall, and definatley just as muscular. His skin was tanner, a darker tint, and his hair was short and black. But when he turned his head to the side to laugh at something the blonde said, his dimples showed and his eyes were light.

"Who is that?" Aero asked in a teasing whisper, making her friend jump.

Katie faintly blushed pink at being caught, but shrugged.

"They're in our year, the both of them. Darius Santiago. And that's his friend, Dean Knox, the blonde. Bad boys, from what I've heard about them. Detentions that rival the twins, all for disturbance of the peace, a.k.a drunkenly conduct, fighting, smoking. But damn, they are hot." Katie said appreciatively.

Aero couldn't help but nod in agreement.

When the bell rang they both promptly left the classroom. Aero split from her blonde counterpart and went off in search of George.

She found him staring out a window from the third floor and sat on the ledge beside him.

He looked worse for wear. He had slight circles under his eyes, no doubt from lack of sleep. His hair was disheveled, like he kept running his hands through it.

"Can I help you?" he asked quietly.

"That depends."

"On what?"

Aero stared disinterestedly at her nails, picking at the black nail polish as they talked and she stared into the distance, as if damning every bird that flew by with his gaze.

"How're you doing?" she asked then.

George frowned at the change in subject but didn't ask about it.

"Fine."

"You don't think I'm stupid, do you?"

"What? No."

"Then why are you feeding me that bullocks on _fine_?"

George sighed.

"I really am fine. It's not like we had anything serious or whatever, and we weren't together when it..." he stopped short and screwed his face up a bit.

Aero appraised him silently before rolling her eyes and taking a breath.

"George, stop belittling this. This is a betrayal. Your very own tin betrayed you. Even if none of us were together, they didn't say anything. Granted I didn't come flat out and tell him how many times I snogged Vaine or something, but we didn't shag, or _almost shag_. They lied about it, whether they outright lied to our faces or hid it. They didn't tell us, and yet we're supposed to have trusting and honest relationships. They **betrayed** us."

"Alright! So they betrayed us! What is accepting that going to do? It doesn't make it hurt any less!" George shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation and frustration.

Aero grinned.

"That's where I come in."

"I'm not following."

Aero hopped off the the window ledge and stood in front of George.

_"I have a proposition for you, my friend."_ she said with a smirk George found **very** devious is nature.

* * *

Aero slipped out of the dormroom that night after everyone fell asleep. Angelina had moved all the beds to the one side of the room and hers on the other. She slept there with her wand under her pillow and her clothes locked in her trunk securely. Katie just laughed everytime she walked into the room and Angelina would say something and then Katie would retort and so on until Alicia finally agreed to come back and seperate them. She was currently playing piece maker.

While Katie was more vocal with her displeasures, Aero now preferred the subtly tactic. But of course, she couldn't just give up her open revenge completely. So she'd continue tomorrow, just to make Angelina miserable.

But she snuck down the stairs and out the common room, though she told Alicia of her midnight stroll so she was staying in the common room to let her back in. Aero turned the corners of the halls until she found the main door and slipped out again, narrowly avoiding mrs. Norris, the ruddy furball. Luckily her own cat, which had chosen his own solitude and to be scarce as of late, chased her off, both hissing all the way. Aero had never been more relieved to have Tybalt, her extremely anti-social cat.

She stood in the darkness again. The moon was out still, and the wind sent a chill up her spine. She knew it wasn't the Skins that had calmed her down, it had been Dean Knox, resident bad boy. Perhaps smoking was more of a psychological calmer than anything? She wasn't sure, but the process of being with Dean and simply defying everyone who had ever told her what to do, everyone who expected the best of her, was thrilling and refreshing. Dean was the only person who so far didn't expect her to do her best, to do the right thing. He encouraged her to take a drag, which she knew was probably a bad habit to get into. He hadn't been encouraging her to do that right thing, like keep her temper in check with Umbridge, or put her feelings aside and take care of the Order, or Sirius, or Harry. She had no responsibility to him, there were no expectations. It felt refreshing and she needed that breath of fresh air again.

"Looking for me, I hope."

Aero turned around and smirked as she recognized his gruff voice and saw his outline in the dark.

"Don't be so cocky."

"Cocky? Nonsense, I'm simply confident. I knew you'd come back."

"Oh you did, did you?"

"Of course. How could you resist my manly charms?"

Aero could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I could go inside right now and show you just how easily it can be done, leaving your ass out in the cold." she said.

"Oh, but that would be mean. Besides, I doubt you could leave that easily, Ms. Black."

Aero arched her brow.

"Is that right?" she wondered.

"Yeah. You and I both know you came out here for a reason. You won't leave until you get what you came for."

"And what exactly did I come for?" she asked, rolling her eyes as he came to stand beside her against the wall.

"You're rebelling, obviously."

"Rebelling?"

"Yup. C'mon, miss priss. You're Aero bloody Black. I've watched you. Not in a stalker way, just...taking notice. You always do what's expected of you. I haven't seen you make a bold move until this year. I know you got disowned for that Weasley kid, it's all over the school via the pug-child."

Aero snorted. _"Pug-child?"_

"Yeah, pug-child, Pasny something-Slytheriny. Said she got it from your cousin. And of course I was there in the common room when everything blew up. He's a real flaming shit-heel, that one. And an idiot. Giving you up for Johnson. She's got no soft side, only a competitive one and doesn't care about anyone. He doesn't even appreciate what you did for him, giving up everything you knew for him, only to go and have that happen. Tosser." Dean swore, taking a deep drag.

Aero lifted her hand and grabbed it casually from his lips and brought it to hers, taking a shallow breath and holding before blowing back out.

"So, what I'm going to just guess, just a shot in the dark here, is that you're not going to start Fred's fanclub anytime soon, are you?" she said.

Dean gave a laugh. It was like a boom of thunder when he did.

"Weasley's a dicktree. I used to think he was a decent guy, you know like George, but then you guys started having problems and _everyone seemed to know about it by they way_, and I just wanted to deck him. How anyone could treat someone they claim to love that way isn't even...I can't grasp that concept. Besides," Dean paused, turning to give Aero a grin through the dark, "he should've realized he was lucky. _You're way out of his league."_

* * *

"Doesn't it just seem like a bad choice, choicing Weasley over your family? I mean, he didn't even keep you."

"Draco? Aren't you late for your afternoon threesome? Crabbe and Goyle may not find tardiness attractive." Aero said with a deadpan expression, flipping carelessly through the pages of her history book.

Draco sniffed, affronted, before he sat down across the table from her.

"Don't you get it? Your friends and _lovers_ will leave you. But family doesn't."

Aero took the care to look up from her book and give a hard look.

"You're right. What you people do to me is much worse."

Draco frowned.

"Don't be so difficult. You've always been stubborn, you know. Father will apologize for his harsh reaction once you come back home."

"I'm not going back to the Mannor, Draco."

"There's no reason to stay away anymore though! Weasley's no longer in the picture. Stop this rebellious streak and just come home."

Aero sighed, feeling very much like she was trying to explain divorce to a young child.

"Draco. The Malfoy Mannor is no longer my home. I often wonder if it ever really was. I don't belong there. Lucius and Narcissa are _your_ parents, not mine. I'm not going back."

"But why? Why though? Because Father beat you a little? He just got upset is all. You knew he'd snap, you always try to antagonize them! All will be forgiven if you just come home!"

"**No**, Draco. Will you drop it?"

"I can't let you keep living like this. As an...an..an outcast! A blood-traitor. You're better than that. You're better than Weasley and his kind. You're a pure-blood, a Black. You were raised with dignity and elegance and built for power and nobility! You can't just give that all up for a flimsy infatuation!" Draco protested.

Aero flipped the page in her book and continued taking notes.

"You're right on that account, little cousin. It was a mere infatuation, but however, my reasons for leaving were my own and I do not regret them. What I regret was it was the infatuation that motivated me to finally leave. But do not illusion yourself, I would've left sooner or later."

"So you want to be disowned?"

"Draco, this is more than being disowned. I couldn't be who I wanted to be under the restrictions of the family. I had to get out. I was suffocating."

"But...Weasley is gone. He's done. You need a man that can take care of you, someone to point you on the right path. Why not write to Vaine?"

Aero's hand paused on the paper as his tone changed. She glanced curiously up at him.

"You sound an awful lot like your father. Did he pass away, by any chance? I believe you're channeling his spirit..."

"This isn't funny, Aero. This is your future. Please, reconsider this nonsense."

"Draco, this discussion is over."

"Why are you being this way!" He shouted, standing up as she did.

"I am being myself!" she cried back, slapping her book down on the table.

She ignored the hissing of the librarian and swiftly exited the library, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

The next morning Aero was exhausted. Sirius had started having his nightmares again and kept her up all night. He was getting harder to calm down. His nightmares more intense. Aero reasoned it was the stress taking its toll on him. She worried for him, he was already so fragile, both physically and mentally.

She had her head in her hand, stirring her cereal absently. She yawned and was tempted to just skive off lessons and curl up back in her bed...and became more tempted when Fred sat down across from her. There was a tense atmosphere then and her grip tightened ever so slightly on her spoon, refusing to look into his eyes. She hadn't even been able to look George in the eye when they spoke the other night.

"Aero...we need to talk."

"We don't."

"No, we do. I...I messed up, I get that. And I deserve this torture, seeing you everyday and not being able to hold you...to not see you smile...I deserve it, knowing I was the one who hurt you. But...what can I do to make it up to you? What can I possibly do? Please..." he begged.

Aero was torn between attempting a second chance and telling him how pathetic he sounded.

"You deserve much more than this." she spoke quietly.

"I-_what_?" he asked, startled.

"You think this is pain, this is torture. You're wrong. I've been through torture. The very definition of torture, in every ruddy sense of the word. All I've ever seen is darkness. I've lived in darkness. That's pain. The darkness is pain. I've been in pain my whole life. And you think not seeing me _smile_ is **pain**. I've been rejected, by everyone in my family. I've been throwout, like yesturday's old new paper. That's pain. The constant _rejection_ is **pain**. I've been tortured by the person supposed to raise me like a daughter. I've literally been tortured. That's torture. My life, is torture, pain and nothing but. But you think what I'm apparrently doing to you is pain. You know nothing. You're a naive little boy who needs a wake-up call. You take your happiness for granted, your family, ME, for granted. You just expected me to always be there, like you didn't have to work to keep me, that I was what? I doormat for you to walk all over while you shouted accustations at me left and right and all the while lied to my face everyday about how you wanted to sleep with my best friend? You have no idea what pain is. And you think I'm giving you pain. Believe me, this is nothing. But you're right. _You do deserve it_."

Fred opened his mouth with wide eyes but before he could answer the sound of something exploding caught the great hall and Angelina shrieked. Her cereal had just exploded on her and it did not look like cereal anymore...much some mushed up color with big chunks in it.

Aero got up from her seat and promptly left the Great Hall. She hadn't planned on saying that to Fred, it just tumbled out. She shouldn't have. That wasn't what she was supposed to do. But he was really pissing her off lately. Like he knew anything about pain. He was a naive little boy. He had no clue what he did, how wrong it was, how much she really hurt. He had no idea that she gave up her life, everything she knew, for him, and he just threw it all away like it was nothing. If he had come out and told her when they got back together that him and Angelina had almost happened, they could've worked through that. But finding out the way she did, knowing that he hadn't planned on telling her...she couldn't look at him the same. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to.

But that didn't matter. It hadn't been love. They were young, they didn't know what love was. They weren't even out of school yet. It was simply puppy love, a fleeting fancy. Not like telling herself that ended all the pain she still felt that made her want to shrivel up and cry until all the water was rung from her body. But she gave herself points for trying. A for effort.

"That was intense."

Aero spun on her heels to see Dean and his friend Darius, walking up behind her. Darius was smoking, uncaring of any potential teachers that could catch him.

"What are you two doing here?" Aero asked.

Dean shrugged.

"This tosser was concerned about you. Had to get him out of there anyways, though he was gonna go all Wrestle Mania on the ginger." Darius said.

Dean grumbled something under his breath, frowned and took a swing at his friend who easily dodged with a chuckle.

"Easy, Rambo. You'll scare the girl."

"Shut up."

Darius merely shook his head good naturedly and shrugged, smiling.

"So agressive. He starts most of the fights, you know." Darius said to Aero.

"Oh really?" she said.

"Oh yeah. Boys got too much testosterone. Just builds up and explodes and his fist flies into some poor fool's face. Tragic really."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up? What part of that don't you comprehend?" Dean grumbled.

"Who me? I wasn't talking. Must have me mistaken with someone else, mate."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"So are you alright?" he asked, turning to look at Aero.

Aero shrugged now.

"No big deal. I wouldn't have minded you going..what was the term you used? Wrestle Mania on him."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time." Dean said with a grin.

"We do agree with the part of you no longer being a doormat though. He did treat you like that, at least from what I've heard from your strikingly beautiful blonde friend." Darius said.

"Ah, you've met Katie?"

"Ah, _met_ her...yes. Wonderful bird. Sharp tongue, that one. Very entertaining. We met briefly once last year after the Yule Ball. Had a nice...chat."

Aero rolled her eyes. Oh, Katie, forever the Hogwarts Harlette.

A shrill squaking interrupted them and Aero looked up just in time to see a dark owl drop a letter at her feet. The boys ducked as if flew low over their heads and back out the window.

Aero frowned and picked up the envelope. Her heart squeazed at the sight of the melted emblem on the envelope.

She broke the seal and took out the parchment. She glanced up at the boys who were watching her. Were those concerned expressions?

_Aeroanna, _

_I cannot begin to explain my dissatisfaction when I heard from your uncle of your recent rebellion. I always knew you were a handful though. You just need to be tamed, is all. That's what I told him and he could not have agreed more. You need someone to lead you, as a good woman should be. I promise you, I will fullfil my duties as a man and lead you down the right path. This path is unnacceptable, just think of what your parents would say if they knew you were behaving so. You are young, and easily impressionable, like a small child. It's quite endearing. So we, your uncle and I, blame not you, my love, but the envirnment you currently live in. It's hazardous to your judgement. Not that those Blood-traitors that you associate yourself with are free of blame, it's not all Dumbledore and his nonsense. No, Weasley is also at fault for corrupting you. But never fear, my darling, all will be sorted out. We're so glad that Ms. Delores is so willing to look after you for us. She was more than happy to agree, as did the Minister himself, such a wonderful man. They'll be sure to keep a close eye on you, my dear. We couldn't have anything happen to you. I cannot wait to see you, as I will soon. Until then, with all love, _

_Vaine Marcoff. _

"Bullocks..." Aero swore.

Love letter her ass. That was a **warning**...


	22. Chapter 22 How to save your life

_The sea is wine red, this is the death of beauty. The doves have died, the lovers have lied. - _**Wine Red: The Hush Sound **

* * *

"What in the world is that?" Alicia asked, halting by her bed, her books frozen in her arms. She had been halfway to setting them down.

Aero looked over her shoulder from her crouched position from putting the final nail on the door.

"Oh, hey Ali. This thing? I forget what it's called, but it's _amazing_." she said with a grin.

Alicia's eyebrows shot up as she examined it further.

"And uhm...I don't suppose those bottles are filled with Vitamin water?"

"Vitamin water? No, no. But I put some on the bottom shelf for you."

"And the rest is for you, I presume?"

"Yup. Finest Firewhiskey around, courtesy of Mads and Sirius. I don't do that weak stuff." Aero replied.

"That's all Firewhiskey? That's eight bottles, Aero!" Alicia said, aghast.

Aero rolled her eyes and shook her head as she stood from her crouched position. She reached over the top of the waist height dark mahogony wood cart styled cabinet. There was a little door on the front side and inside she had stored bottles of Alicia's Vitamin Water and some juices, along with some Butterbeer. On top, in various styles and patterened clear class bottles were her drinks, and occassionally Katie's, which consisted of different liqueds and colors. She had Firewhiskey, Scotch, Rum and Vodka and glasses that ranged from shot glasses to wide and short glasses with a container of ice.

Aero used the tongs to put some ice in the bottom of her wide glass and poured a little Scotch inside, taking a sip before brushing her hair over her shoulder and turning to face Alicia.

"Don't work yourself up, it's not like I'm drinking it all at once." she sighed.

"Aero, I know you're of age, and that most people treat you like an adult because let's face it, you're _normally _very mature and responsible, but you're still a student here, and drinking that on school grounds is forbidden!" Alicia scolded.

Aero took another sip and looked at the ceiling before back at her little brunette friend. She settled herself on her bed and crossed her legs, looking at Alicia with a contemplative look on her face.

"Haven't you ever broken a rule, Ali?" Aero wondered.

Alicia pursed her lips.

"Of course I have -"

"Well then why are you acting like this? Isn't it a little hypocritical?"

Alicia scowled.

"This is different. Aero, I know you're going through a lot, even if you can't tell me everything and Merlin knows you're not the one to spill all the emotions in you for fear of acting too human, but getting pissed is not the solution, it'll only make things worse."

Aero just watched her friend in mild interest before laying back against her pillows, picking up a magazine and flipping it open on her stomach, taking a sip and nodding at a selection of new Dragon Scale boots.

Alicia gave an irritated sigh and shook her head, grumbling to herself about _emotionally constipated monkeys_ and _feeling like the mother hen_. She sat on her bed and opened one of her rather large romance novels she was so obsessed with. Aero used her glass-less hand to poke curiously at the large black box that Ginny had dropped off earlier that day. Her father had sent it to her, after tinkering with it of course, and seemed afraid of using it for fear of it exploding. So Aero had graciously accepted the foreign item. It was apparrently electronic, and Mr. Weasley had played with it some and enabled it to be used in areas of magic.

She turned some cases over that Ginny had gotten, courtesy of Bill upon hearing about the box item. She followed the instructions Ginny had told her and placed the disk inside and pressed the button with the green triangle on it.

Alicia gave a jump so mighty one would think Voldemort himself appearred in front of her. The sound was loud and there were instruments and then something then sounded like whirring went on and they stared in interest.

"What is that?"

"A music box?" Aero suggested.

She picked up the case the disk had come in. Ginny called it a See-Dee. Whatever that was. She looked curiously at the case and flipped it over in her hands as she sat up and took another sip.

"What's House of Pain?" she wondered.

"I don't know, but it sounds painful."

Aero frowned at her and then listened to the music again. She had to admit, the Muggles music wasn't all bad. It had a good beat.

"_Jump around. Jump around. Jump around. Jump up, Jump up and get down_!"

Aero laughed as she watched Alicia start bouncing her head. Aero had turned the music up more, via the large knob in front of the black box. She looked over when the door opened and grinned as Katie immediatley started moving to the music, dropping her school bag to the ground and jumping around. Soon they were both jumping around, Alicia laughing hysterically on her bed.

When the song ended they were all out of breath and red in the face. Katie and Aero had their arms around each other's shoulders, grinning madly. Alicia smiled, glad to see Aero smiling.

"Where did you get that?" Katie asked, looking at the music box.

"Ginny."

"And where did Ginny get it?"

"Mr. Weasley."

"Wicked. We can keep it?" She asked, turning around excitedly.

"If Alicia approves." Aero shrugged.

Katie looked at Alicia with bambi eyes and Alicia threw a brush at her, laughing.

"For Merlin's sake, Kates, it's not a pet! _'can we keep it?_'" she mocked.

Katie stuck her tongue out and Alicia promptly called her immature before sighing and saying they could keep it, if Katie promised to feed it and love it.

"Well, I'm off again." Katie said, reapplying her make-up.

"Where to now?" Alicia asked.

"This little Hufflepuff that I'm friends with, Leanne, her and I are going to meet up with some blokes, of course staying under the radar what with London's foulest bridge, and all."

"Have fun." Aero said with a vague wave, her eyes glued to the magazine again before taking a sip.

"Aero! Katie! Honestly, the both of you. Aero, stop drinking. It's bad for your liver, you're killing it and become a raging alcoholic. Katie, stop bouncing around from bloke to bloke, it's not healthy or safe, and you're better than that. Why don't you owl Oliver again, try to work things out? He's a good man, Kates. _Aero put that drink down, I swear to Merlin! Don't you look at me like that - put your finger down, that's rude - _Katie really? You're still leaving? _Are either one of you even listening to me?"_

Aero glanced at Katie in amusement who looked equally as entertrained at the fuming Alicia, their little Hogwarts mother, before the blonde slipped out the dorm room and Aero proceeded to get up and refill her drink.

Alicia then left, muttering some tastefully colorful vocabulary under her breath, the door slamming behind her as she left to the library.

Aero looked around the room then, bored with no idea of what to do to relieve herself of it. She contemplated looking for Dean, but that would mean publicly meeting with him, and he was still her little secret. Her hot, bad little secret that she promised she'd take full advantage of...it was just a matter of time.

Yes, timing had to be precise now. She had to plan her moves carefully when it came to the others. Fred and precious Angelina. They would pay, all within due time. This was to be well executed, and they'd never see it coming. It was so much better than the petty things she and Katie did to her. Those were temporary pains for the whore, but this, her plan, would be drawn out, they'd never see it, and then it would crash in a second around them and they'd be in pain for the rest of their years. Just like her, they'd be humiliated. She'd make sure of it.

With a heavy sigh Aero heaved herself off the bed and walked idly around the room, running her hands over Angelina's bed posts. Angelina had taken care to secure her belongings inside her trunk and draws. Aero didn't have the patience to crack them. She wasn't good with that, breaking charms. Perhaps she could persuade Bill to give her some tips.

She refilled her glass, and finished it much quicker this time. And then she spotted something under her bed. She crouched down and retrieved it and sat on her bed, taking a good look at it, before her breathing hitched.

It was a box, no doubt stored by Katie looking at this horrible organization. She flipped through the little pictures stored in there, all staring up at her. She unknowningly grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey from the cart and put it to her lips as she stared numbly at the pictures.

Fred and Aero, their third year, a few weeks after their first date when George caught them kissing under a tree by the lake.

Fred and Aero, during a Christmas celebration they had one year in the common room before leaving for the holidays, standing under the mistletoe and smiling.

Fred and Aero, holding hands and laughing at something said while sitting on their brooms over the Quidditch pitch, no doubt taken by Lee after a game.

A picture Katie had insisted upon taking of the ring he had used to propose to her with.

Aero grit her teeth as she felt the betrayal of tears stinging her eyes and she wiped at them furiously, trying to stop the flow, and failing. She saw them land on the pictures _drop drop drop. _

_It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't **fucking** fair! He promised her! He promised her everything that was good, everything she had thought she'd never have! A family, love, someplace to truly call home. He had promised her things she had always wanted, just with some stupid I love yous and an old ring. With every kiss he swore his faithfulness, his love. With ever hug and hand-held, her offered her safety and warmth. With every moment of bliss he showed his devotion to her. He had made her believe he cared, that he loved her, that he wouldn't abandon her like everyone else did. _

_And he lied! _

_He didn't just lie, he lied with her best friend, he lied to her face, **every day**. The very act of proposal was tarnished, she couldn't even hold on to that happy memory, because it had been a lie! He knew then, when he told her he loved her since that day on the train, when he offered her his heart in marriage, he knew what he had done. He knew, the whole time. He lied to her face. _

_He humiliated her, in front of everyone! He had given Angelina something to hold over her head. He made their relationship a lie, a joke. She had thought they were fine, that they were finally passed all the obstacles. He knew about Sirius, he knew about the Order, he knew about her parents. He knew all her secrets, they should have been fine. But when he expected her to tell all her secrets, he kept his from her. _

Aero didn't even realize when she finished the bottle. She flipped the box over and watched it fly forward onto the ground, scattering the pictures. She threw the bottle at the wall and listened to it shatter, watched the pieces fall to the floor. Like the pieces of her heart had. She found it oddly symbolistic.

Her heart was racing, pounding in her chest, yet she felt bare. But there was a fire burning through her body, her skin practically burned with her anger, as the tears fell down her face. She picked up another bottle, looking at it as she flipped it in her hands before throwing it at the wall. It wasn't helping her deal with the sudden humiliated and fury bruning inside her, but she didn't care.

She picked up another bottle, this time of Rum, and tilted her head back and took a large gulp of it, feeling it run down her throat. She looked angrily around the room, throwing an arm out and showing everything off her nightstand, including the music box. She kicked at the scattered papers and pictures and books and they flew across the floor, running away from her it seemed.

Aero gave a humorless laugh and quickly finished the bottle before promptly throwing it as well and grabbing another. Aero looked at the shard of mirror laying on the ground, from when she threw her things off her nightstand. She knew Sirius would have another nightmare. He would call for her, and she just couldn't take care of him right now. How could she take care of him, when she couldn't even manage herself?

She stumbled over to it on the floor and threw it unceremoniously into her trunk and sat herself down, taking a chug of her Rum before getting back up. She unsteadily gathered the pictures in her hand, and sat her bottle down with a clang, the sound echoing painfully in the silent room. She grabbed her wand and went to the window, slamming it open, and leaning over the edge.

She held the pictures away from her and with a smirk she lit her wand and watched the fire dance over the smiling face, watching Fred's face burn. _Watching her own_.

She watched the fire burn it all away and let the charred pieces fall from her hand, twirling to the ground in ashes.

Aero made her way back to her bottle and took another large sip before going to her bed and digging through her pockets. The other night Dean had given her a gift. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took a stick out. It had been the only thing she ever smoked. Dean had Skins, Cigarettes. But he gave her a pack and she held the thin white stick between her fingers, placing it to her lips and using her wand to light the end.

She inhaled and after a moment watched the spoke twirl in front of her.

Her hand shook has she took another breath.

_It's so bloody stupid. She shouldn't be thinking of him. She shouldn't have this reaction just to seeing his face in a picture. It was ridiculous, pathetic and childish. She reacted so strongly, one would think she had been in love, but she knew the truth, it was the same thing she told herself everyday since that night. Love didn't exist, at least not for her. She wasn't supposed to find love. She was just infatuated with him. And him as well, because clearly, if he had loved her, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did. All evidence showed love had never been a factor. It was a joke, a sharade, a word flung around carelessly by everyone. Love was just a word, it wasn't even a fleeting emotion as she had originally thought. It didn't exist. She saw no evidence of that...unless you looked at Andromeda and Ted, or Desarie and Shane, or Molly and Arthur...so few people found love. Alright. But that didn't mean she had, ever, or ever would. _

Aero ran a hand through her hair, tangling in the strands and gave a painful tug in frustration. Her whole body was shaking, the anger still swelling like a coming wave, waiting for teh perfect time to crash. If she listened hard, she could hear her mind playing Fred's voice in her mind, everytime he said her name, everytime he laughed.

_"Oh, Aero..."_

She brought her hand down the cover her face, clenching her eyes shut, her hair falling in her face.

_"Ah, Aero, **yes**..." _

She could feel the feel of his fingertips across her skin. Her skin tingled with goosebumps. Her bottom lip quivered.

_"I love you, Aero." _

She gave a pained cry and threw her glass at the wall beside her, feeling some glass rebound and fly back at her. She could feel the skin on her face be cut but just barely felt the pain. It was nothing compared to her internal pain.

**"Liar!"** she screamed hoarsely, tears streaming down her face.

Aero stumbled back into the post of her bed and clung to it with one hand as she reached under her pillow, pulling one of Fred's patchwork sweatshirt from underneath. She used to hold it when she was upset, even after she found out about him and Angelina, she had held it for a moment before pulling herself together. Because it was hit, it was comforting, with his smell on it.

She pulled it over her head, stomping her cigarette into the ground as she did, burning the floor black, and fit easily inside the oversized clothing. It completely out lengthed her arms, fell down to her mid-thighs. She brought her covered hand to her face and closed her eyes, inhaling. It still smelled exactly like him.

He had used to offer comfort. When things got too much to handle, she knew he'd be there. But now...all she had left was his sweatshirt.

With an anguished cry she stumbled to the bathroom, her vision finally becoming influenced from her drinking, making her trip and stumble into the room. Her hands gripped the cool sink in front of her as she looked up through her messy hair into the mirror.

She was a mess. Her skin was pale and flushed, her eyes bloodshot, watery and pupils dialated, tracks of tears running down her cheeks. She had tiny cuts from the glass shards on her face, some were bleeding, the crimson running down her face, matting the strands of hair it touched.

She felt hollow now.

_She had been humiliated by this man. But she had been humiliated because she knew she hadn't been enough for him. She hadn't been enough to keep him. She knew that. In the back of her mind, ever since they had gotten together at the tender age of thirteen, she had known she wasn't enough for him, but she hopelessly let herself believe she was, because he had told her so. But she knew she hadn't been. He picked fights with her, he didn't trust her, and then when push came to shove, he tried to replace her. She hadn't been enough to keep him. She hadn't eve been enough for anyone. _

_She hadn't been enough to keep Fred. She hadn't been enough to keep Angelina. She hadn't been enough for her parents to love her, she hadn't been enough for Narcissa to care for, she hadn't been enough for Sirius to come back for, like he had for Harry. She had never been enough. She tried and tried and tried until she was exhausted, trying to please everyone, but it was never good enough. She could never do it. She was never enough. Never good enough. _

Aero stared at herself resentfully in the mirror. Looking at herself now, of course she hadn't been. Aero backed up, removing the clothing from her body hurriedly. She whipped them at the floor and stood bare in front of the mirror.

She looked at her cold, angry eyes, staring, appraising herself bitterly. Narcissa used to say she was beauty incarnated. That any man would be lucky to have her.

But Aero looked upon herself with distaste. Her body was small, petite. She was scarred, damaged and marked. perhaps once she had been beautiful. Fred had once told her they were badges of honor for her bravery. But they had only made her ugly and torn.

She had a small bump in her nose. Her right breast was bigger than her left. Her scars tainted her skin. Her bottom lip was bigger than the top.

She was horrible. She was horrible, inside and out, and everyone had known it before her. They had all seen it. They saw how broken and weak she was on the inside. And how fitting it was that her body now emulated that.

Aero weakly brought his sweatshirt back up and slipped it on. No one should see that.

She walked back to the mirror and gripped the edge of the sink. It was painful to look at herself, the one who ran everyone from her life. She may not care about how she looks, but the fact that she was so broken inside, she repelled everyone. That she was so broken and damaged and pathetic, no one could save her, that they all left because she was such a lost cause...that she could see it all in her eyes. That made her pained to look upon herself.

That was what everyone saw everyday when they looked at her. They saw the pain, the damage done. They saw how weak and needy and pathetic she was. They knew she hadn't even been enough for her own parents, so of course, she wasn't enough for them. She was enough for no one. She knew that. She had always known that. So why did it hurt so much now? Why would Fred have been any different?

She grew sick to her stomach as she thought about everything, as she stared at her reflection. Her bottom lip quivered horribly. She could hear Draco's voice, arrogant and confident, ringing inside her head. Their previous conversation...

_"You chose him and he didn't even keep you!"_

The glass shattered and a dull pain shot up her arm, overwhelmed by her pained emotions. She raised her eyes from her grip on the sink to see her other hand at shot out and destroyed her reflection, planting her fist firmly through the center of the glass. Blood splattered the pristine white sink and the small shards of mirror around her. It had fallen into the sink, onto the floor and in her hand. A shard stuck through the space between her index and middle knuckles. Some was caught in the top of her hand, in her arm and wrist. And it should have seared in pain, so much so that she would scream and holler and cry and rip them from her skin. But she could barely feel it.

So instead she watched, morbidly transfixed as the crimson washed down her hand. She had never been suicidal. She wasn't now. But she hadn't done this to die, but even watching her very lifeforce drip down from her into the sink...she couldn't help but think...but still, she wouldn't die. She knew that...

She let herself numbly slide to her cold tiled ground, her good hand still gripping the sink safely and let go when she touched the floor, letting her slide her body over the glass on the floor and up against the wall as she hid under the sink.

_He didn't even keep you... _

* * *

_Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol _

**Katie's POV **

Katie came in, smiling, her eyes closed as she remembered the image of Darius Santiago and her kissing. They had even done it right outside Umbridge's office, just to spite her.

She had fun tonight, with her friend Leanne. Things had been so tense as of late. She didn't blame Aero in the slightest. Aero was her best friend. She was going through a hard time. Nothing in her life had ever been easy and it was only worse now. It was Angelina's fault that Aero gave them fake smiles now, the Aero though putting on make-up and making snappy comebacks would hide her pain from her. And Katie let her, thinking it would make Aero feel better, thinking that maybe Aero would be able to come out stronger if Katie just let her do things her way.

So she had gone out with Leanne, a younger Hufflepuff she had met back when her and Aero hadn't been this close. Just to get away, give Aero some time to herself, because Aero was the type of person that cherished her solitude. She had always been like that.

And Katie felt her heart stop and her breath hitch, her eyes widen when she finally laid eyes on her dorm. When she had left, Alicia had been in here with Aero. But Alicia wouldn't throw things all over, break glass or leave a cigarette on the ground. When did Aero start smoking then?

Katie shook her head. There was time later to figure out when her friend started such a habit. She looked over the room carefully. Aero wasn't there. Had she left, then? Alicia had obviously left before any of this happened, and Katie doubted anyone had come in before herself. But had Aero left?

She felt ehrself moving towards the cracked open door of the bathroom, a sick feeling in her gut. She laid her hand gently on the wood of the door and pushed it open silently. Her eyes zeroed in on the broken mirror in the dark room. Someone, Aero, had punched it. There was a dark liqued there, and on the sink and ground as well. Katie chanted over and over under her breath to not let that be blood.

She saw something move in the dark and turned on the light with a flick of her wand, watching the chandelier of candles burn bright and illuminate the room. It was worse than she imagined. The shadows had covered the crimson in the room. The amount of glass on the floor, the clothes carelessly littering the ground.

Katie stepped into the room and the glass crunched under her heels, the only sound in the dead silence. Katie felt tears in her eyes as she looked down at the crumpled figure huddled under the sink, clearly wearing a boy's sweatshirt, and one guess whose that belonged to. Aero was trembling, shaking violently, curled into an upright ball, turned sideways, away from Katie, her eyes closed and water falling down from her eyes, clear until they mixed with the cuts on her face and turned a watery red.

Her hair was tangled and messy, matted at the ends with blood from her face. Her skin was pale, with a red flush staining her cheeks and nose. Small, shallow cuts were on her face, mainly her cheek.

Aero's slim fingers, the ones Katie could see from here, were gripping her knees that were covered under the sweatshirt. Her forehead was resting on them. She sniffled and her mouth opened slightly, and Katie's heart clenched, hearing the soft, broken whimper that just barely escaped the girl's mouth.

Katie didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She knew that when Aero didn't flinch from her touch on her back Aero knew she was there. Katie moved Aero, making soothing noises when she whimpered and brushed glass away from around them with her hands. Katie pulled Aerom out from under the sink to a standing position. Her head lifted slightly, and through blood-matted strands of hair, Katie could see the pained grey eyes staring at her, silently begging for help. To be saved.

Katie looked at the floor around them, her eyes determined, her mind racing and her heart crashing frantically in her chest. Aero had bare feet, and she was already cut by the glass. Katie refused to let another piece slice her friend's skin. She looked back at Aero. The dark haired girl was slightly smaller than Katie's own 5'4 self, by several inches actually. And Aero was thinner, more petite and light weighted than Katie.

She placed her friend's arms around her neck, because she knew she was the only thing keeping Aero from falling back to the ground. She moved closer, so they were touching. Aero stared at her, her eyes reflecting the pain Katie already knew was there. Katie raised a hand and gently moved Aero's head to rest on her shoulder. For a moment Katie held her friend tightly, a hand on her back and arm around her waist. She held her friend for all she was worth, begging with Merlin and God and any other powerful being out there to just let her comfort reached her friend.

She then sucked in a breath and grabbed Aero's hips, lifting her quickly into the air and letting her hands fall immediatley down to her legs, wrapping around them and lifting them on either side of her own waist. She linked her arms under Aero then and walked out to the dormroom, placing Aero in the blonde's own bed. She pulled the covers up and tucked her in. Aero curled onto her side. Katie sat herself down, staring at her friend.

She had never been so scared in her life, so see someone like Aero like that. Someone who never showed their true emotions, someone who just kept going, no matter what. So broken, so little and so vulnerable. Not even when she was practically catatonic from the sudden light on Fred and Angelina had Aero scared her so much. Because Katie had expected the reaction. This was sudden and without warning. Her eyes had been dull then. Now they were filled with emotions and pain Katie had never seen her friend experience. Because this showed that unlike before, when Aero had the strength to hide her emotions from them still, now she was so exhausted she let everything go. Aero had cracked. Aero needed help. Aero needed comfort and compassion and someone to stay with her, take care of her. Her friend had lost that thing she had held onto ever since she met her. Her friend, her sister, had lost her control.

And with that thought crashing through her mind, Katie laid down on the bed, closing the curtains around them, and hugged herself to the still trembling form of her best friend.


	23. Chapter 23 Still

**Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in and tell you all that your comments have been amazing. I honestly wasn't sure about how I wrote the last few chapters, but you guys seemed to like them. Thank you :). And sorry for teh late update. I've been trying to figure out how to start off the chapter, after you know, Aero's breakdown. I was stumped, so I don't know if this is any good...**

**- lalalaloveyouuu - **_Don't worry about giving me suggestions, I love hearing what you guys want, it helps me write. I have in fact gone through hard times, granted not like Aero here has, and I hope you haven't had what she has, that would make me cry. I try to make it was realistic as possible. I'm glad she doesn't sound Mary-suish, I entered that stage with her before. And yes, a little optimism would do Aero wonders, and she'll get some. If not in this chapter, than the next._

**-HunnyABee -**_Aero needs a lot of things. I'm glad that you're being so insighful, like you're understanding her character, I always worry that people don't. You're very spot on here. Yes, there will be a confrontation, probably several. Not all pleasant, more like fighting and waging war, but she will eventually have to sit down with at least Fred and talk things through if either one is EVER going to get past this. She might just feel better by venting and decking Angelina instead of talking...haha. Yeah, Aero is kinda going insane, isn't she? I like to think that most people in the Black family were insane, to some extent, which is why I think last chapter Aero mentioned "a line" most Blacks cross. It's when they loose a part of their sanity. She's currently dealing with a possible complete mental breakdown, which no doubt both Sirius and her mother have suffered. Hers is just brought on my too much stress, and past traumas and emotional unstability. Aw, I'm pleased you read those updates, makes me all blushy and happy inside haha. And YES, there will be something...shocking to bring, or rather force, Fred and Aero together. *wink* _

**-Mika927 - **_Aw, thanks. I'm glad you love Aero. Aero is quiet the contradiction. She is a strong person in general I think, putting up with this crap and forcing everyone else to only she her strong side, but inside she's all, to quote Grey's Anatomy "Dark and twisty inside". Haha, Yes. Alicia and Katie are COMPLETE opposites. Katie's the supporter, no matter what. Like a sister. Alicia is like the mother, making sure they both get to sleep on time, stay up on homework and such. She's their Hogwarts Mummy :) _

**-NightGrace -**_ Don't worry. There will be some Aero/Fred interaction. I know I've been lacking in that for some time now, but it's mainly because Aero is avoiding him. But, what with the "proposition" she gave George, and everything that will force them to be in the same room (the DA club + quidditch), they'll definately be interacting. Promise. _

**-imADDICTED.2myipod - **_I'm glad you liked it. You kind of hit it on the mark too. Katie is going to be watching this kid like a hawk now. And who knows, (besides me!) if you MAY be correct about Katie going to Fred. Hmmm. I'm glad it helped you understand her more. I hope it gave her some depth. Yeah, it wouldn't have been Aero for her to sulk around. She prefers to be...strong, I guess. Like, she wouldn't just sit and wait for Karma to bite him in the ass. Why wait for Karma, when she can do it herself, you know? _

* * *

Katie watched her friend stir in the bed. It was quiet in the dorm and they were both in Katie's bed. Katie sat at the foot, her legs crossed and waiting patiently, observing her friend closely. She and Aero had never been particularly close until things started going sour with her and everyone else. Katie remembered how she felt so sorry for Aero, having to deal with such a miserable break-up. Everyone thinking she let a murderer in the castle to kill the boy she thought of as a little brother. She remembered how scared she was for her teammate, dormmate and occassional girlfriend when she was suddenly in the infirmary. No one had said from what. But after Professor Lupin turned out to be a Werewolf, suspiciously on the night Aero was attacked, she figured it out. Afterwards she had watched Aero for sign of any changes. She didn't leave once a month, she didn't eat raw meat, or get nervous during the full moon. So something had happened so that she hadn't changed. Katie had never pressed her on what. But she had been amazed when Aero told her later, along with Alicia, that it had been in fact Professor Lupin who accidentally attacked her. She said it had been her own fault. She knew all about it, and still went outside, and yet she didn't blame him in the slighest. In fact Katie noticed several letters afterwards from their Professor, even after he left, and how close Lupin and Aero became. She had the strength to forgive someone who had mauled her. To befriend them with no ill feelings.

Katie was shocked that Aero bounced back after being Petrified. Most students were shaken up, even ones who hadn't been caught. Aero had been too nosy, gotten to close to the answer apparrently, and had been attacked because of it. But she just came in one morning like nothing was wrong, simply stating it would make an interesting story to tell people later. She wasn't shaken in the slightest.

She'd get knocked off her broom by a Bludger, and just get right back up. She'd have her heart broken and still find the will to put all the pieces back together and forgive Fred. She dealt with keeping Sirius a secret from the all powerful Ministry without an ounce of hesitance. She could lie right to the Minister's face without even blinking. She could charge right in there and give him what-for until he bent and gave her what she wanted, without a hint of fear for the consequences. Aero seemed to have confidence that most teenage girls lacked, never doubting herself or her expectations for anyone else. She'd be harassed and neglected at home and never complain once. She'd be disowned and act like it was nothing. She told them she had been under the crutiatus curse by her own uncle and then never spoke of it again, like she was able to just force herself to get over things. She could be beaten, knocked out, locked in a damp trunk by a death eater in disguise as her mentor and wake up the next morning like everything was peaches and she hadn't just broken her arm or been held hostage. She only ever seemed to worry over everyone else, particularly Harry. And she became an Auror before even leaving school. She brushed it off as the Ministry's way off keeping track of Sirius and Dumbledore, but she never admitted that it was also because of how skilled she was. She aced all her Potions exams, was one of the best in their year for DADA, didn't fall asleep in Binn's class, kept her head with Umbridge, made sure to make time for Fred, Harry and her friends while managing to keep an eye on Draco, Sirius and Dumbledore and keep her secret of Dean (from everyone but Katie) and still be a rocking Beater.

That's what Katie saw when she looked at her impressively tiny friend.

But there was more to that, now that she looked closer. Most people didn't bother. They saw her perfect life first. She had beauty, brains and boys. She snagged a Weasley twin, made Quidditch team, became an Auror, passed all her classes, came from a rich and wealthy family. Most people would think Aero never had any problems. But Katie could see now. She wasn't looking through the rose-tinted glasses anymore. Aero was drowning.

Aero never dealt with emotions. Never. Not since Katie had known her. Alicia said Aero probably thought emotions too messy to deal with. Or maybe she didn't know how to deal with them. And Merlin, did she have some to sort through now. She had her heart broken again. She'd been betrayed, by two people she trusted. She'd been humiliated. She'd been hurt. And with whatever it was she was dealing with outside of school she hadn't told them about yet, things were crushing down on her. She was in pain and she didn't know how to deal with it. Katie imagined Aero had quite a high tolerance for physical pain. It was the emotional pain that actually hurt her.

She had never seen that side of Aero before, and she didn't like it. Aero was a strong person in general. One who welcomed solitude, and simplicity, but also enjoyed the time with friends. She never let any weakness show. She was always strong, and sure of herself and the situation at hand. That's just how she was. It's who Aero Black was. And now...now she was like a different person. A person that, if katie wasn't careful, she would lose, the both of them. She'd lose the strong Aero, and the vulnerable Aero. She'd lose them both, because eventually something would snap and Aero would really lose it.

Aero groaned and scrunched up her face in discomfort.

Katie peeked through the curtains. Alicia and Angelina had been gone a decent amount of hours now. Kaite and Aero were both on their study hall right now. But Aero would have to get up soon. They didn't need Umbridge sniffing around.

Aero cracked an eye open.

"Katie...?"

"Morning, sunshine."

"What..._what happened_?"

"I'm sure you remember."

Aero paused for a moment, thinking back through the sleep and the small hangover. And then her eyes widened and she looked down at her hand, the one she had punched the mirror with.

"I patched you up, just fine. You'll wear that guaze wrap for a few days and then you'll be fine. Don't strain it. You hurt some stuff in your hand. Figured you didn't want to be questioned by Pomfrey."

Aero nodded and seemed to refuse to meet Katie's calm gaze.

"Are we going to talk about this?" Katie wondered.

"I don't want to..."

"Aero. You had a breakdown. This isn't the first one. You've had two sudden breakdowns in a short amount of time. You've taken up unhealthy habits, smoking and drinking. You sneak out every night to go meet some bloke you just met, alone in the dark and outside of the school. When was the last time you had a decent night's sleep? Sirius keeps you up every night with his nightmares, I hear him before you sneak off to the bathroom. You toss and turn all night before then. You haven't eaten a full meal in days."

"I have too eaten!" Aero protested.

"Not really. You pick and nibble but you don't eat everything on your plate. You think I don't notice when you just move things around. Thinking if you participate enough in the conversation, are the last one to leave, we won't notice how much you didn't eat. I don't know if it's because you're too preoccupied to eat, or if you're sick, or if something is seriously wrong with you and you're forcing yourself not to eat. And then you come upstairs and fill yourself with that flask of yours. I smell smoke on you when you wake up in the mornings, after meeting _Dean_. "

Aero was glaring full fledged at Katie now.

"So what do you want me to say, Katie? Yeah, I don't eat as much as I used to. Yeah, I drink and I smoke a little. It helps takes the stress off. In case you didn't notice, I'm dealing with a lot. And yes, Merlin forbid I meet someone who doesn't have these insane expectations of me, who doesn't judge me, who doesn't know me. Do you even know how refreshing that is? To just be? Not to have to act a certain way in front of just _one person_? I don't have to try so hard! I don't have to try so fucking hard to smile, to pretend like nothing is wrong, that it's not getting to me! I get to be human, a teenager around him! I can do stupid things, like smoke and drink and swear and flirt, all the things that when I'm around everyone else, I'm not supposed to do. I can be normal with him. There's no history there, dragging us down like there is with Fred and me. It's just us. Besides, nothing is going on. We just talk. I don't understand why you're on my ass about this! I'm fine. I'm. **Fine**."

Katie waited a moment, staring somberly at her friend who looked at her defiantly in return.

"Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

Aero rolled her eyes, but Katie could see her frustration making a peak with the glossyness in her eyes as she looked away.

"I'm not doing anything wrong..." she muttered, staring hard at the wall.

"I know you're not...I know you're going through a lot. I know I don't have even a chance of understanding all of it, I'm not sure I want to. But Aero...you're going down a bad road here...I just want to...protect you, I guess. You're allowed to hurt, Aero. You're allowed to mess up and be human. I apologize if I made you feel like you had to be strong and hold everything in all the time. I'm sorry you feel so controlled. I don't want to push you away. Or lecture you. Merlin knows my own lifestyle isn't healthy. I just...I want to make sure you're alright, because I...I care."

Both of them were refusing to meet either other's eyes. There was a tense silence about them now.

Aero's wounded hand twitched in her lap and she flipped it over silently, her palm up and fingers helplessly curled. Katie glanced away from her lap where her head had lowered and slowly brought her hand over and placed it on hers, curling her own fingers around her friend's hand. They sat there for a moment.

"I'm sorry..." Aero whispered, blinking rapidly while staring hard at the wall.

Katie furrowed her eyesbrows in confusion.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" she replied back just as quietly.

"For being so weak about all of this. I'm not the first girl to go through a bad break-up..."

"Aero.." Katie rolled her eyes "this is more than just a break-up. This is everything building up because you thought you had to hold it in. Besides, it wasn't just a bad break-up. Your first break-up was a bad breakup. This was...this was pouring salt on the still healing wound, Aer. You both need to heal."

Aero looked back at her, her eyes wet and lips pursed.

"How?" she whispered.

Katie looked at her friend.

"I don't know just yet. But I promise...I promise I'll make this better for you."

* * *

Aero felt like she was run over by a stampeding herd of drunk Hippogriffs. Katie had forced her to get out of bed, look presentable and go to class with her. Her head was pounding, her hand throbbed, and she was exhausted, probably by the emotional distress she was currently trying to navigate her way through.

She had effectively hidden her bandaged hand in a black fingerless glove of Katie's. Merlin forbid anyone should ask questions about her wound. She wouldn't know what to say...

As she listened to Binns drone on a piece of paper floated onto her desk. Looking at it suspiciously for a moment, like it was a dung bomb, she opened it gently with her good hand.

_I know you don't want to talk to me. I get that. You probably hate me. But I think we both need some closure on this. We should talk. _

_I don't know if you've heard about the meeting this weekend in Hogsmeade, but perhaps afterwards we could go for some Butterbeers and talk? _

_I understand your reluctance. You probably can't stand the sight of me. I know I hurt you but please...for the sake of what we were, can we try to work this out? _

_Will all my love, forever and always, _

_Fred Weasley _

Aero sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to. She knew it was childish to ignore him, but she couldn't face him. She knew that if you looked into those no doubt sad blue eyes, she'd falter. That if she saw his crumpled face, her plans would crumble in an instant. If she heard him talk, say how sorry he was, that he loved her, she'd give in. Because that was Fred. Fred was everything good, and sweet and kind. He was a good person. Or, that's what he was most of the time. It seems they tended to bring out the worse in each other these days.

The thing was...as much as she tried to tell herself she never loved him...she did. She had loved him long before she openly admitted it, before she even understood it herself. She had loved him. And even after, after all that happened she loved him. She loved the way his eyes lit up when he pulled off a prank. She loved teh way he laughed when he heard a good joke. She loved teh way he was so devoted to his family. She even loved that he was so passionate about everything he did, even when it was him yelling at her. Because she knew he didn't mean it. He was just passionate. She loved him, and that's why this hurt so much. She realized that now. She loved him, and probably would for the rest of her life, no matter what he did.

But was it enough to forgive him? Was love enough to keep them together, to be happy?

No. If he loved her, he'd love her through whatever. He insisted that he loved her, that he would always love her. Well, when this mess was over and done with, see if he loved her then. Yes, this was revenge, but it was a test. If love was a strong as he said it was, then it should withstand what was to come. If it did, they would be together. If it didn't they could both walk away.

Aero sighed again and picked up her quill.

_Yes. I'm going to Hogsmeade. And yes, Hermione told me already and I will be attending. Perhaps we could talk...or perhaps not. We'll see. _

Fred looked down at the note on his desk with a faltering heartbeat. She was so quick and formal sounding. And she didn't even sign her name, let alone say love. He felt the familiar stinging of traitorous tears prick his eyes as he read it. He lifted his gaze to the classroom. Most students were asleep. Binns was droning on and on.

He took this time to observe her. He missed her like crazy. He never quite understood just how much he loved her until he lost her. Until she was no longer by his side. Until she wouldn't look at him. He didn't hear her voice. They didn't banter. He didn't get to see her smile. The fire in her eyes.

Merlin, the fire in her eyes. She was a woman on the warpath when her eyes lit up. He found it oddly arousing when he saw it. And to know that he had been the one to take that spirit away was enough to crush him. She was one of the strongest women he'd ever known, ever had the pleasure of calling his, and he had effectively, out of all the abusers in her life, the neglecters, the dissapointments, he had been the one to finally break her.

She was sitting a row ahead of him, a few seats down. There was a tall, fairly muscled Gryffindor beside her, who was talking to her with a grin on his face. Fred couldn't help but feel the sensation of wanting to rip his head off his body. Why was this bloke allowed to talk to her when he couldn't?

Katie was on her otherside, talking with another faily large mate. But while Katie looked happy, Aero looked somber. A look of melancholy on her face. Clearly, she was not handeling well. Fred was no better himself. George had effectively moved back in, but had seperated himself from him. For the first time in his life, his twin was seriously angry with him. Not that Fred blamed him. But all at the same time, he lost his both his best friends, his love and his twin. How was that for a blow?

He was practically a pariah in the Gryffindor house now. Sure, not everyone held a grudge against him. Some people sympathized with him, some people didn't care enough to judge, and some people felt pity. But most girls sided with Aero, the heartbroken girlfriend. Some guys looked at him with digust, unable to fathom how he could do that to the girl he was going to marry.

But he didn't care about them. He cared about how Ginny was the one trying to rectify the brotherly bond between George and him. How she was working up a way to present his case to Aero. He cared about how much pain he caused both Aero and George. The two people he cared for most, the two people he would kill for, he ended up being the one to hurt them. George was quiet, not laughing or joking. Aero was more dark than usual and would hole up in her room.

But at least she was responding to him, right? That had to be a good sign. If she had ignored the note, he wouldn't have a chance. But she replied, and even said they might meet up to talk, which meant she was open to listening, which meant he had a chance to fix things.

Aero was giving them a chance. She hadn't given up yet...

So there was no way in hell he would either. He was going to make up for what he did if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

George walked slowly down the pathway in Hogsmeade, feeling the cold nip at his red cheeks. October was chilly. He kicked disinterestedly at the leaves by his feet as he walked. He didn't know where he was going. Lee was splitting his time with him and Fred and right now they were at Zonko's. George wanted to go, but the idea of facing his brother right now was not high on his list of priorities.

But then again...

He missed Fred. He felt incomplete without him. He was angry, yes he was angry, but he understood why Fred did what he did. He had been hurt by the break-up. He had been hurt when he saw Aero with that vile Vaine character. So he tried to move on. At first, George didn't mind. It was a fling, a rebound, and Fred had no idea he like Angelina. George hadn't wanted to tell him, for fear of Fred tearing the mickey out of him. SO he kept quiet as well when they started going out. He knew Aero picked up on it though. He picked up on her resentment as well. SO they had toyed with the game of jealousy, that time at breakfast. But he was hurt when he found out that Fred and Angie had even tried to shag. He knew he didn't have a right to, they weren't together, nor were Fred and Aero together. But he was hurt more by the fact, as was Aero, that they hadn't told them afterwards.

Fred was planning to marry Aero with lies. And Angie was going into a relationship with him with lies. If they had just come clean...instead Katie had to tell them. He almost thought it would be better if it had never come out. But then again, there parents had always told them it was better to tell the truth. Fred was hell bent on the truth. He through a fit everytime Aero lied or kept a secret. Despite the fact it never directly effected him. But Fred knew trust came from honesty.

So Aero probably couldn't fathom why Fred didn't tell her. It was hypocritical of him. George knew that. But he understood it too. Fred would do anything he could to keep Aero after that break-up. So he probably knew it would reck that still tender relationship between them if he told her. He probably would have eventually, when they were old and gray. But not so soon. Because Fred didn't want to do anything to risk disrupting their relationship, to hurt Aero. Aero was fragile, at least mentally. George could see that.

So Fred would so anything he possibly could to save her the pain. It crushed him to know he was the cause of it. But George didn't condone their actions in the slightest. Which was why he easily took Aero up on her earlier proposal...which he should get on.

George distracted himself with how to plan things out, rushing through the streets to get to Zonko's, and bumped into someone.

"Sorry, mate."

"It vas my fault, sir..." the man replied with a heavy accent.

George nodded absently and hurried forward. He ran into Zonko's shop and stopped to catch his breath as he looked around. He easily caught sight of his twin's familiar red hair.

"George!" Fred exclaimed, surprised.

"Hey..." George nodded awkwardly.

"Uhm...I'll leave you two alone." Lee muttered.

"Hey, mate...uh what's up? You look preoccupied." Fred asked, staring at the floor.

George felt his stomach squirm in guilt. His brother was acting as if he was teh scum on the bottom of Kreacher's foot.

"I uh...I wanted to see you...s'pose." George shrugged.

Fred looked up, shocked.

"S-see me?"

"Well yeah...I mean we've never been apart for this long...and I just...I wanted to make sure you were fairing alright, I mean with everything...and I missed you too, I s'pose..."

Fred opened his mouth and closed it again.

"Georgie, I missed you too...I swear I didn't mean for this to happen, it just did! I was going to tell you I swear but I didn't want to hurt Aero and you and Angelina were so happy I didn't want to ruin that for you -" Fred rushed.

"Shuddup, Freds, I know. I know you'd never intentionally hurt me or Aer for that matter." George replied honestly.

"Good...good I was so afraid you hated me, mate. I could never stand you to hate me."

George rolled his eyes at his brother goodnaturedly and gripped him in an _extremely manly_ hug with a pat on the back and a ruffle to his hair.

"S'alright now, Freds. We're past this, alright? You stop blaming yourself, and I'll forgive." George said.

Fred smiled in relief.

"Yeah...yeah alright."

"Mates, we should head to the Hogshead, yeah?" Lee called over, now side by side with a furiously blushing Alicia Spinet.

The twins nodded and George warily eyed the strange, pointy object Fred had in one of his bags.

"Dare I ask what that contraption is?" he asked.

Fred gave a laugh and George smiled at the familiarity.

"This...aw, I'll show you back in the dorm."

Fred slung an arm around his shoulders and they followed a group into the building.

* * *

Katie dragged Alicia into the shop, Aero following them.

"Can you believe it?" Katie squealed.

Alicia leaned away, despite how her arm was currently in a vice grip, amusement on her face.

"Believe what? That you got asked on a date? Heavens, how _did_ that happen?" Alicia mocked.

"Not just me, you bookworm. Aero too!"

"Hush, Kates. You're getting all excited." Aero said.

"But Aero, this is good. This is really good. Dean can help you heal, and when Fred sees you together he'll realize what a good thing he messed up and come crawling back!"

"He's already asked me."

Katie stopped rifling through a rack of clothes and turned to look at Aero.

"What?"

"Fred, he wrote me in Binns class about talking over Butterbeers after the meeting." Aero shrugged, looking at a skull top.

"Fred asked you out?" Alicia wondered.

"He didn't ask me out..."

"He did! He asked you out. He wants to try and work things out."

Aero frowned at the blonde.

"I thought you were on my side."

"Oh Aer, I am on your side. I'm always on your side. I just think it'll help both of you, if you talk this out."

Aero glowered at turned back to the clothes.

She didn't want to talk things out. Alright, maybe she did. Maybe she kinda cared about why he did what he did, but..not really...just a little bit. She sighed to herself. She was a mess. She breaksdown. She doesn't know if she wants to work things out or seek revenge.

But if she was completely honest, she wanted it to work out. She wanted to be able to get past this. She just wasn't sure if they could. And even if she openly admitted she wanted things to work out...she was still going to get revenge. That wasn't going to change, she decided. She and George would get their paybacks. Then they could deal with trying to get over everything. But their revenge was theroputic for the both of them. That would help them move on.

And to do that...she had to speak with Fred. They had to be civil.

"Aero, hurry and get dressed! You're buying your outfit and then going to meet Dean." Katie said.

Aero nodded absently and picked out her clothes.

Katie was throwing her hair up, wearing a loose middle, tight top and bottom purple sleeveless shirt with a knot at the top to show off her cleavage and dark jeans underneath with black heeled boots and a dark jean jacket.

Aero on the otherhand was wearing her hair up in a high ponytail. Her hair was jet black still, she had sharp-ended, jagged side bangs covering one eye and dyed a dark crimson, just as the underlayer of her hair was. She had tight black jeans, velvet red high heeled boots, her black glove to cover her bandages, and a low tank top with red and black stripes that reminded her of a pirate with a little bit of black ruffled lining the top and a black skull on the bottom.

"Don't wear a jacket." Katie advised.

"Why?"

Kaite rolled her eyes.

"So that you can get cold and he'll give you his jacket. Duh."

"I thought you were rooting for Fred? Or did you change your mind again?" Alicia asked.

Kaite sighed, as if trying to explain something to a child.

"I am rooting for Aero. Yes, I think she should be with Fred, but maybe to get there she needs to have a healthy relationship first. And besides, it will make Fred jealous and force him to have to fight for Aero."

Aero shook her head and put her wand in her back pocket and went up to pay the woman at the counter.

_"Don't put your wand in your back pocket! Better wizards than you have lost a buttocks!" _

Aero whirled around and came face to face with her bright haired cousin, who wore a grin.

"Wotcher, Aero. Really startled you, didn't I? Thought I was Mads comin' to sneak up on you?" Tonks laughed.

Aero rolled her eyes at her cousin's antics.

"Tonks, what are you even doing here?"

"Checking up on you. Just finished my shirt here, Dung's taking over." she said quietly, steering Aero towards an empty aisle.

"Ah. Going back to Grimmauld then?"

"Yes she is. Me on the otherhand is swamped by assignments."

Aero once again jumped and turned to see Desarie standing there with Selena on her hip.

"Merlin, you both can go to hell, sneaking up on me like that." Aero grumbled.

Desarie and Tonks laughed good naturedly.

"Calm down, calm down. I have a favor to ask you though...wow. Why are you so decked out?" Desarie wondered.

Aero felt her cheeks heating and turned to look in the full length mirror.

"No reason. Why are you two, or you three here?"

Aero glanced at the scar on her arm, the one with the barb wire marks. Lucius had tied it around her arm from the tip of his wand, acting as a leash, as if to keep her there in the Manor. She shuddered. It was dark magic, it wouldn't go away. But maybe...

Aero played with her skintone a little, changing the color of the risen scar and blended them to be less noticeable.

"Don't change the subject, little girl." Desarie teased, reaching over the fix some strands of Aero's hair.

"We know there's a bloke involved somehow. Is it...Fred?" Tonks wondered.

Aero frowned at the name and she saw Desarie and Tonks share a look.

"It's not like that. I'm fine. Honest." Aero stated.

They looked back at her, doubtful.

"Aero, we heard everything from Katie. Look...just, give him a chance." Desarie suggested.

Aero spun around and glared at them.

"You want me to just pretend everything is rainbows and unicorns again?"

"No! No, of course not. It's just...every couple goes through a rough patch, Aer. You and Fred were bound to have problems from the start. I mean, a Black and a Weasley? C'mon. That's a star-crossed affair if I ever saw one." Desarie explained.

"We're on your side, Aero. He should've told you. You have every right to feel what you're feeling. Just...don't shut him out. Give him a chance to prove he loves you." Tonks advised.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"Oh believe me, I am."

If he can take her payback, he'll prove he loves her.

"What in Merlin's name does that mean?" Tonks asked.

"Aero's got a scheme turning, I can see it now."

"Does it end badly?"

"Probably. Catastrophic maybe."

"Should we interfere?"

"No. They both need to learn."

"Even if they get hurt?"

"I expect so. It's not our place, is it?"

"Will you two quite it?" Aero snapped.

"So. If it's not Fred, who is it?" Tonks asked, smiling again.

"I assume it's too much for you both to just go away?"

"Tell us." Desarie insisted.

"No."

"It's Dean." Katie said, coming around the corner.

"Katie!" Aero exclaimed.

"Dean." they both chorused.

"Sounds like a bad boy." Desarie commented.

"He is. Total bad boy. Wicked hot." Katie agreed.

"I hate you all." Aero muttered.

"You're not the only one with relationship prospects." Desarie said airily.

"Aren't you married?" Alicia questioned.

"Oh I am. Tonks here..."

Aero arched an eyebrow in question at her cousin who was blushing.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"No one. Dez, shut your mouth." Tonks hissed.

"She's been checking out the resident Professor." Desarie said with a laugh, shifting her daughter to her other hip.

"Resident Professor?" Katie and Alicia asked.

"You have a thing for older men, don't you?" Aero teased.

Tonks refused to meet their eyes, blushing furiously.

"Who is it?" Katie asked.

"Ex-Professor Remus Lupin." Aero replied.

"No way!"

"So. How is that couple doing?" Aero wondered.

"Remus is obviously trying to ignore it. I mean, she's his best mate's cousin. And younger than him. And he's got his condition and whatnot." Desarie shrugged.

"Can we shut up?" Tonks groaned.

"Fell the karma, Nymphadora." Aero taunted.

"You're gunna feel my fist, Aeroanna."

"Alright...girls, it's been nice chatting. Aero, whatever it is you're planning, it better not be anything worthy of expolsion. Oh, and here, hold her, I'll come by and pick her up before your time is up. Bye!" Desarie said with a smile before she disapparated with a crack.

"_Des_-she did not just ditch me. I have her kid!" Aero groaned.

"Right. I'm off to take a nap. Don't get into too much trouble. Keep your heads down around Umbridge, that vile cow...and don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Tonks cried and followed Desarie with her own crack.

Aero was silent for a moment before staring down at her goddaughter who was contentedly playing her her Black family necklace.

"Well, this should be fun. You can see how Dean does with Selena." Katie suggested.

"What did they mean? Are you planning a scheme or something?" Alicia wondered.

"Don't worry about it." Aero said, grabbing her bag with her original clothes in it and walking out of the store.

She put Selena down and insisted on holding the tot's hand as they walked down the cobblestone streets to meet Dean, Selena talking non-stop.

"...and then mummy said I could paint my room if I stopped coloring on the walls. What color should I paint it?" Selena asked, trying to skip instead of walking.

"I'd go with something bright."

Aero turned her head and saw Dean leaning against the wall with two butterbeers in his hand a grin on his face.

"Who's that...?" Selena whispered, hiding behind Aero's leg and peeking around it slightly.

"That's...he's my friend, Dean. Dean, this is my goddaughter, Selena Lathum." Aero introduced.

"Well hello, Selena. It's very nice to meet you."

Selena gave a shy smile, her cheeks pink and held her little hand out.

Dean gave a low chuckle and grabbed it gently within his large one, crouching down to place a gentlemenly kiss on it.

"Mummy says I can only marry a man if he's nice to me and acts like...like a prince from the stories. Aunty Aero, can I marry your friend?" Selena asked, tugging on Aero's pant leg.

Aero saw Dean try to restrain his smile and Aero herself was smiling. She was glad Selena took so quickly to Dean and that he seemed to be so good with her. She wasn't sure she wanted a relationship with him, but they were friends, and it made it easier that him and Selena got along.

"I suppose if it's alright with Dean."

Selena looked hopefully up at Dean who was grinning a crooked grin now, exposing his dimples.

"I'd be delighted to marry a woman such as yourself, Miss Selena."

Selena turned pink again and hid behind Aero, clutching the fabric of her jeans in her tiny fists.

"C'mon, why don't I buy the little lady an ice-cream before the meeting?"

Aero nodded, though she argued he didn't have to pay.

"Chivarly is not dead, Black. Let me pay."

"No way. And independent woman does not need chivalry."

"Well you'd wound my manly ego if you didn't let me."

"I can take that."

"This is a date, to which I asked you out on, correct? I should pay."

"No way. I'm paying for my kid."

"I'm marrying the little princess, I should pay."

"You're taking me out on a date, but marrying my goddaughter? Naughty."

Dean winked.

"You haven't seen anything yet."

Aero bit her lip and felt the corners of her lips quirk up. She hadn't been in the best mood, but Selena and Dean managed to take that away...

They sat down at a table and easily created conversation.

"So, you're meeting with Fred after the meeting?"

Aero sighed.

"I told him I might."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I...it won't make a difference."

"Why not?"

Aero watched Selena race to catch all her dripping ice cream that was making a painting on her hand and sipped her butterbeer.

"Because I can't just do nothing. I can't pretend everything is alright and that words are enough to fix this. I have to pay him back."

Dean cocked his head at her. Funny thing was, Katie thought they were on an actual date.

"How are you planning on doing that exactly?"

Aero smirked and shook her head.

"Nuh-uh."

"It's a secret?"

"Yes. I'm not telling."

"Please?"

Aero heard herself laughing as Dean gave her bambi eyes.

"Ugh, you're such a baby. Well, It's a partner project. It just...involves giving them a taste of their own medicine."

"And how does this work in favor of working out the relationship?"

"Fred insists that he still loves me. Well, if love is as strong as he tells me, where it can work through anything, than he can prove that he truly loves me at the end, when we can work through everything together, on even ground."

Dean nodded thoughtfully and took a sip of his own butterbeer before reaching over to attempt to wipe the chocolate mess that was her goddaughter.

"Well, I hope that all pans out for you, Aero. I really do. Just know, if you need anything, I'm here, squirt."

* * *

Fred sat at the table in the far corner of the room. His leg bounced anxiously. The meeting had been horrible for him. He had an annoying little berk questioning Harry every five seconds. And then Aero was there with the bloke he had seen earlier, sitting close together, talking quietly. He had never felt so jealous in his life. Who was that tosser? Why the hell was he so close to Aero?

So now he sat alone inthe back, waiting for Aero to come in through that door. He needed to talk to her. George had forgiven him. Maybe Aero would too.

Fred jerked his head up when he heard heels on the floor and felt his heart flutter when he laid eyes on her.

He was tense, just as she was, and they sat across from each other in an awkward silence, Aero playing with the glover on her hand, fred drumming his fingers against his legs.

He cleared his throat finally.

"Where's Selena?" he asked.

Aero flicked her gaze to briefly meet his.

"Staying with Katie until her mum picks her up." she replied quickly.

Fred nodded and looked out the window. He felt like the tension was going to strangle him.

"You wanted to talk." she murmured.

Fred nodded and turned back to look at her. Her head was bent, her hair had partially fallen from her pony tail and was covering a part of her face. Instictively Fred reached out and tucked it away behind her ear, his hand lingering by her face and swore he felt her start to lean against it before jerking back.

"Right...so...Aero, I just...Merlin this is awkward." he cursed.

Aero glanced up at him and he noticed her now slightly pink cheeks.

"Uhm. Aero...I know how much I hurt you. I didn't mean to, I swear. I'd never intentionally hurt you. You have to believe that." he pleaded.

Aero silently nodded her head.

"I know that." she said quietly.

"Good. I...I wish that words were enough to undo all this. I...if I could go back I'd never...it's just that I saw you and Vaine together one day, and I thought you'd moved on, forgotten about me. It hurt. It hurt so bloody much, because I loved you, I still do, and the thought of you so easily moving on...I wanted to find the comfort you seemed to. I wanted be free of the pain, for even a second. Because everytime I looked at you, I would remember our first kiss. I'd want to just hold you again, or be the one that made you laugh. I missed you. And everytime I looked at you, I'd see you with him, my _replacement_, and I'd just feel sick. I'd feel sick knowing he could touch you, he could make you laugh, he made you happy, and I couldn't. I was so jealous and hurt and I hated myself for even starting the stupid fight in the first place. Because as soon as you walked through the door that night I knew I was wrong, but I have this...this pride, that I just can't let go of sometimes. And I let it push you away. And I...Angelina said she understood. That she didn't blame me, that it'd be okay. She told me she'd help me and I believed her. And that night...that night I was so distraught, just having nightmares of you and..._Vaine_...and I needed someone...just someone...to make me forget, sothat I didn't have to keep **feeling**...and Angelina...she was just there. She was just there and I needed someone...and...it did nothing. I tried, I tried to just...forget you, even for a moment, and you just wouldn't leave! I never forgot about you...you were always on my mind, no matter what I did...and so yeah, we almost slept together, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it because I love you too much!" he said.

Aero was staring at him, her stormy eyes just staring at him, piercing through him, her eyes glossy with tears. And then she slowly, as if careful not to scare him, she touched his face.

Fred closed his eyes as his shoulders threatened to tremble. A familiar spark of fire ingnited his skin under her touch, her gaze and spread through him like wildfire. He felt her thumb caress his face and realized she was brushing away the silent tears he had cried. She made a soothing sound and he relaxed under her touch, pressing his face against her hand. How long had it been since they had a moment like this?

Sometimes seeing how Aero acted, how completely controlled she was all the time, how independent she was, how fiercely protective and loyal she was, made him forget that she wasn't made of stone. That Aero needed these tender moments just as much as he did. He missesd this. He was almost afraid that when he opened his eyes she'd be gone, and that understanding look in her wet eyes would have just been wishful thinking.

"I love you..." he whispered.

He felt Aero move to sit beside him and kissed his forehead.

"For some reason unknown to me...I still love you too."


	24. Chapter 24 Truth Lies in Secrets

Alright. So I want you to keep leaving reviews based on the chapter itself of course, but here's a question for you.

- Do you think Aero should forgive Fred? Do you think they should focus on their relationship? Do you want Aero to be independent for awhile? Do you want her to carry on with the revenge she's planning? Do you want some Dero (Dean and Aero apparrently haha)? What do you think her revenge is? Should Fred find someone else too before they try to work things out? I honestly want to know what you guys think.

* * *

_After all we've been through, I miss everything about you. Can't believe I still want you. - Colbie Caillat - _I never told you_ (**Aero**) _

**All alone in an empty room. Nothing left but the memories of when I had my best friend. And I don't don't know how we ended up here. I don't know but it's never been so clear. We made a mistake dear... **_Through the trees - _Low Shoulder_ (Fred) _

* * *

Aero leaned over the edge of one of the stone glassless windows in the corridor. She was resting on her forearms, one hand holding her cigarette, the other putting her flask back into her robe. She shivered slightly at the October wind that wisped her hair around as she stared out at the lake and the forest and the millions of twirling, multi-colored leaves in the air.

She watched her smoke twirl along with them and thought back to her meeting with Fred. That hadn't exactly gone as planned. He wasn't supposed to cry, she wasn't supposed to be all understanding and comforting. She was supposed to go in there, strong willed and not look at his face. She knew, she had known she would break if he cried, if she saw his eyes all sad and miserable. But she did it anyways and suddenly she just believed he was sorry, that he didn't tell her for her own good, for the sake of their relationship.

She groaned in frustration. She so confused lately. Katie's telling her she's practically going crazy, but she didn't feel like it. She just had a build up stress that tended to explode in one shot. That's all. And then Fred was...Fred. He was all genuinly sorry and miserable and still completely in love with her. She had somehow painted this picture of him in her head as a giant tosser who deserved to be kicked in the balls.

And she admitted she loved him. Merlin knows she loved him, for some unknown, unfathomable reason. Yeah, so she loved him. It was never just an infatuation, she full-out loved the sod.

"What is wrong with me?" she muttered to herself.

But did that change anything? She was still angry. He had hurt her, humiliated her, and no number of sorries or tears could change that. Did she want to stay with him? Of course. But that didn't mean that she was going to be a doormat. He treated her wrong. He lied, after the numerous times he went off on her for all her secrets. But her secrets were always for the sake of protecting someone else, or under oath, or just plain didn't effect him. His on the other hand was him almost shagging her best mate, lying by omission and proposing to her knowing full well what he had done, and then not even bothering to try and tell her. She had to wait for Katie to expose them. How does one get over that?

"Alright?"

Aero didn't even turn her head.

"Not really." she muttered, staring off in the other direction.

"I always heard that it was better to talk about it."

"Is that right?"

He was silent for a moment and shuffled his feet before he copied her pose on the otherside of the window divider.

Apparrently realising she wasn't ready to speak, he changed the subject.

"So, I'm dating that Astoria Greengrass bird. Granted, she's a little younger, but there's nothing wrong with that. She's quiet, I think she doesn't have a lot of confidence, but I don't know many that would, with a sister as blunt as Daphne. But that just makes her an easier target for Pansy, see, who isn't taking my relationship well. It's all so catty, really, considering Pansy and I were never going out, maybe just an occassional shag or two...but she's really going after Astoria. So I was wondering, how would you handel a situation like that?"

Aero sighed and looked at the sky for a moment. She was almost thankful for his less complicated affairs. It was simple, and distracting.

"I'd try my best not to leave Astoria alone, where Pansy or one of her bitches would be able to get at her. Assure Astoria that you don't care for Pansy, she's just a stalker who needs some therapy. Make sure she knows that you're dating _her_, not Pansy. So whatever Pansy says, doesn't matter."

"But what if they get violent?"

Aero tapped her cigarette on the stone, knocking off the ashes.

"Have you tried talking to Pansy?"

Draco snorted.

"Have you not met that girl?"

Aero felt herself give a tiny lopsided grin.

"She's a piece of work, she is. What about Daphne? Can't she do anything?"

"She happens to be friends with Pansy. I never said that Daphne and Astoria got along..."

Aero dipped her head down.

"You really fancy this girl?"

Draco was silent for a moment.

"I think I do. She's pretty, and intelligent, pure-blood of course, of good stock. Mother and father approve -"

"Merlin forbid if they didn't..." Aero muttered.

" - and she's nice. Polite and respectful. Incredibly clever. She dotes on me, but she isn't suffocating like Pansy was."

"_Is_."

"Right."

"So...ickle Dracie likes an ickle girlie?" Aero teased, glancing up at Draco, who now seemed to flush pink.

Draco scowled and pursed his lips, looking pointedly away from her.

Aero gave him a playful shove and laughed.

"It's nice." he commented.

Aero cocked her head. "What is?"

"This. You and me. Being nice again. I like it. I ...miss it. I miss you, truthfully. But if you ever tell anyone I admitted such a thing I'll hex you." he warned.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you before Draco. I really am...I just...you can't do that and then just..."

"I know. I know that but what did you expect me to do? Attack my father? You know him, once he gets into once of his moods, there's no talking him out of it. He never listens to me. He wouldn't have then either."

Aero nodded and crushed her cigarette before letting it fall out the window.

"That's a really nasty habit." Draco stated, wrinkling his nose.

"Shut up."

They started walking down the corridor. As it happened, most students were at lunch.

"So, what's got that frown etched onto your face, cousin?" he wondered.

Aero sighed.

"Everything is just so bloody...fucked up, you know?"

"Believe me, I know." Draco replied.

"Fred just...I suppose you heard."

"I heard. Word gets around."

"I know. Gossip here moves like shit through a goose."

Draco turned his head to give her a disgusted look.

"What? You have to admit, geese shit like it's going out of style." she shrugged.

Draco shook his head at her.

"So he what? He's horrible to you now?"

"No. Just the opposite. He's still loves me, and wants us back together."

"W-well you're not going to go back to him, are you?" Draco demanded.

"I'm not sure."

"Well surely you're going to do something! You can't just let him walk all over you like that. You can't make it easy for him. Because he'll think he can do whatever and you'll take him back after you both cry it out. You have to show him, and that snake-haired bitch, that you are someone they can't mess with. You're Aero _bloody_ Black. If you _have_ to be with Weasley then so be it. But _please_, for the sake of your own dignity, kick his ass and **then** put the bandage on it."

* * *

Draco felt as if he could've skipped down the bloody corridor. Aero was talking to him again, and she was more then civil. She laughed. He had seen her laugh, if only for a moment. They joked around, they talked about his relationship. The main reason he even asked Greengrass out was because Aero had once suggested it. Aero, at least as far as Draco was concerned, had great judement of character, so he promptly ended whatever it was he had with Pansy and the next morning at breakfast he asked Astoria Greengrass out, much to Pansy and the older Greengrass's displeasure.

And once again, Aero was not wrong. Astoria was a better match for him than Pansy ever was. Pansy had been suffocating, neausiating even. She hovered around him constantly. But she had doted on him, worshipped the ground he walked on. Where was the harm in that?

Really what was upsetting was that Aero and Pansy had never gotten along. The Parkinsons would come over for the summer holidays and his cousin would seem to make it her personal mission to make Pansy cry. Pansy in turn would spread nasty rumors about her among the Slytherins. It never made it farther though because the Gryffindors would promptly squash them. It was their stupid loyalty. Though for those instances Draco was almost thankful for it, it had managed to keep his then girlfriend alive and breathing, seemingly unharmed by his cousin's stone hard fist.

But Aero seemed supportive about his new relationship. Whether that was because she truly did like him and Astoria together or just because it wasn't Pansy he couldn't be sure...but she was on his side again. He always felt better when she was on his side. It made things easier to bear, knowing she was there to fall back on.

His father was hounding him on information about Potter and the rest of Aero's friends, including Aero herself and Dumbledore. He felt a twinge of guilt fall into his stomach as he wrote his letter home. Was this considered a betrayal to her? But she wouldn't find out...and if she did she would understand. SHe would have to understand the position he was in now. Really, she had done this to herself, hadn't she? She stepped on his father's toes, and now her every step was being watched.

"What are you doing, Draco?"

Draco looked up to see Astoria standing beside the couch. He hadn't heard her approach, possibly because she was so small and light, mixed in with the chatter in their common room.

"Nothing, Astoria. Just writing a letter to my father. Would you like to sit down?" Draco offered, signing his name quickly on the parchment and handing it off to his bird.

Astoria sat gracefully beside him, an appropriate distance apart, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

She really was a beautiful girl. Small, porcelain skin, dusted pink cheeks with almond shaped blue eyes and dark shiny hair. She was beautiful, on top of all her classes, she was polite and respectful, quiet and shy, extremely clever. Draco just wished she had the ability to stand up to Daphne and Pansy when they confronted her or spread nasty rumors about her. Draco tried his best to stop the rumors and make sure Pansy was nowhere near her, but he could only do so much. He couldn't stop her from using the lavoratories, where Pansy and Daphne cornered her most of the time. He couldn't keep them from entering her dorm room. But despite this, she kept by his side, not speaking a single complaint.

But while she looked fragile, and shy she was what Aero liked to call a 'spit fire'. She would get angry as soon as anyone said a word against him, like some of the older Slytherins would, or a Gryffindor. And she had frightening hexes. She had a fire in her, one she generally kept hidden, but he knew it was there, and he liked her even more for it. He generally thought she and Aero would get along, if only they could spend time together.

"You have a strange expression on your face, love. Like you have just eaten a sour lemon." she commented cooly.

Draco looked up, startled, before nodding and looking at the floor.

"Just family problems."

"I'm assuming they concern your cousin, Aeroanna?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you...?"

"It's not hard. It's fairly easy to notice how you do not speak of her anymore, and it's not secret that she was recently disowned. I imagine your father is asking about her, and you consent and tell him what you know about her life here, and then you feel horrible about betraying her trust but at the same time you know that it is your first duty to assist your father and she got herself disowned and this is simply the price. It makes you feel guilty and then you try to reason with yourself, but it doesn't help."

Draco was staring at her and he supposed his shock was written on his face because she gave him a small, knowing smirk.

"You're not as hard to read as you think, my love."

Draco sighed.

"It's horrible. But she made her choice, and I've made mine. I think it's an unspoken understanding between us. We're on different sides now...things like this must be done."

"And yet you would never raise a wand against her."

Draco looked guilty again, he could tell. How could he ever raise a wand against the person he saw as his big sister?

"It's not a bad thing, Draco. Loyalty is a good thing. Despite what others may think, Slytherins do know what loyalty is. You have it towards your cousin. The difference between our loyalty and Gryffindor's loyalty, is simply...we do not let ours get us killed."

* * *

Fred hadn't laid eyes on Aero since she admitted she still loved him. He knew he should look for her, but he was a little shaken up himself. He had thought Aero was closed off from him, that he'd have to work to get her to even like him again. But she still loved him. She admitted it.

And that look in her eyes after he said his side...she seemed to understand. But he knew that wasn't enough. It was not going to be enough to bring her back. He had messed up, big time. This was more than just accussing her of secrets. He almost cheated on her. Yes, they may not have been together at the time of him and Angelina, but in his heart, he would've been cheating.

But it was because he never stopped loving her that he couldn't go through with Angelina. It was because of that, that Aero and him could share that moment together, untainted.

He should have told her, when she was being honest with him about everything, he should have told her what happened. Where had his Gryffindor courage gone? It always suddenly disappeared when he looked into her eyes, when he wanted to tell her, so many times he tried, and then he'd look into her eyes and that courage would run away like the cowardly lion.

And because he couldn't hold that strength, he had hurt one of the people he cared most about in the world. He was supposed to be the person in her life who never lied to her. Who was always there for her, the one who didn't leave. ANd he destroyed that. He left her, let her go, accussed her, didn't trust her, _broke_ her.

He didn't even think that was possible, in the first place. Who would've ever thought he'd be the one to break her, that she could break at all? She always acted like nothing effected her. How could he know she was already so damaged that it just took one good hit to make her crumble?

Fred groaned and fell back against his bed.

"Stop moaning and groaning. It's sounds like those that make me afraid to enter my own dormroom."

Fred listened to George rifle through his trunk before throwing himself onto the bed beside his twin and chew something crunchy.

"You can't keep wallowing, you know." he said.

"I can too."

"Well, I suppose in theory you can, but that can't be healthy, for your mental state or your physical state. And I can tell you now, you need both of those if you're going to have any shot with Aer. She's broken mentally enough for the both of you, and have fun trying to get her to make-up with you if you let yourself go and get a butterbeer belly."

Fred lifted the arm over his eye up enough to give a look to his twin.

George held his hands up in surrender and shrugged. "Just giving you the truth, twin."

"Have you just come here to torture me?" Fred grumbled.

"'course not. Mum will probably send you a howler when she finally finds out about you and Aero. That'll be torture enough, I figure."

"You're such a comfort, you know that?"

Fred could just feel George grinning.

"I love you too, Freddie."

"Do you two want me to leave so you can have your moment?"

Fred peeked through his folded arms and saw Ginny and Ron standing in the doorway.

"What is this, an intervention?" he grumbled.

"Who told him the plan?" Ginny teased.

He felt the mattress dip as the two sat down around him on the bed, Ginny by his head and Ron by his feet.

"Well, it seems Freds here is bent on wallowing in his own messed up relationship." George explained.

"Is that right. Fred, you can't. You've never wallowed in your life, don't start now." Ginny said.

"I would wallow too if I messed up as monumentally as he did." Ron sighed. "**OW**, Ginny, that _hurt_."

"Stop talking, Ron."

"He's less of a comfort than me, right Fred?" George asked.

"No...you're both annoying people the the astonishing lack of ability to comfort anyone who has an emotional range higher than a rock."

George made an offended noise and Ron grumbled something like _"that's something Hermione would say..." _

"You did not just compare me to Hermione Granger." Fred said, sitting back on his elbows and looking dryly at his youngest brother.

"Well, in all fairness mate, you're being a bit pessimisitic, quite similar to our dear little know-it-all." George reasoned.

"I am _not_!" Fred cried, obviously outraged.

"Afraid so, Freds. Quite Hermione nature you're experiencing." Ginny said simply.

"You're all horrible comforters and traitors to boot! I am not Hermione Granger!"

"That's exactly what someone in denial about their Grangerness would say, mate."

"You're horrible!"

"Well, stop wallowing and being such a downer and all pessimisitcy and get your rear in gear, brother!" George exclaimed.

"If you want Aero back this bad, you're not going to get it by laying in this bed and being all broody." Ron agreed.

"If you want your woman back, work for her." Ginny said firmly.

Fred looked frostily at them all.

"So this is what a Weasley intervention looks like, hm? I don't think I like it..."

* * *

She sat in the corner of the common room, watching the last bit of kids pack away their parchments. Everyone else had long gone to bed. Truthfull she should be there as well, but the knot in her stomach was twisting tighter and tighter.

She didn't know if she could keep doing this. Was it betraying him in some way? Could she betray him like this? She really did like him. He was sweet and polite and always treated her like a lady. He valued her opinions. He could be distant sometimes, but she didn't mind. So could she really betray him in such a way, even as indirectly as this?

She watched the figure come from the girls staircase and sit in front of her. She immediately looked down at the table.

"So, what do you have for me?" the older girl asked.

With guilt twisting in her stomach she reported what she had found out from her meetings with him.

"So things aren't working out between them. The rumors are true then. Excellent. And you're sure this isn't false information?" the older asked in a cold voice.

The other flinched and nodded. "Came from a reliable source." she spoke softly.

"Good, good. I'll tell him right away then. We'll meet up next Hogsmeade weekend, I hope..." the other ended with a sort of dream wishing voice.

The younger looked up hesitantly from her lap where her hands were folded neatly.

"Why are you giving him this information? To what end? He doesn't love you."

A smack resignated throughout the common room. The younger lifted a hand to gently touch her stinging cheeks as tears filled her eyes.

"He loves me. I told you before, he just needs this information to get back at her for how she played him! She's a worthless, blood-traitoring tramp! He's going to give her exactly what she deserves. And don't you **dare** speak so to me, you worthless bitch. You do as I tell you, no questions. Or else I'll tell _him_ exactly where you get this information."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I've told you before...we're going to be together forever. He loves me. He's older, I know, but I'm very mature for my age. You need not worry about me. Now, I want more information soon. Like her schedule, her routines. I don't care how you get it, just get it. Now go to bed, you need you're rest." the older said, this time more softly, almost gently, before patting the other on the head and walking back up the staircase.

The other felt her silent tears fall onto her hands as she hunched over. She was silent in her turmoil, silent in her betrayal, silent in her fear. Always silent...

This man, he was a Death eater! He was older, scarier. And she found herself in this position...how did she get into this situation? Or the more pressing matter...how was she going to get out?


	25. Chapter 25 We're all insane

**Oh-my-goody-little-gumdrops! Did anyone see the new Vampire Diaries Episode? My little munchkins! I almost cried. I held it in though, but damn. For a second I thought "Damon" and at which point I'd stop watching, but then BAM! I kinda had a feeling, at least about Little miss J, but really...Klaus is such a...dicktree. UGH. And Elijah, "man of honor and word" my ass! Pssh, giving your word means nothing these days ;) So, Supernatural! Woop, I was anxious to see the little bad angel who's so socially awkward he pulls at my heartstrings. "Dean this isn't funny! The little voice says I'm almost out of minutes!" and have you ever heard the guy's voicemail message? Bahaha. **

**Alright. Onto business. Concerning the reviews, I've taken your opinions and suggestions into serious consideration, so I thank-you for your input. And as for smarmy-teen-drama...I understand completely. Though, what you must also understand is Aero is also a TEENAGER so teen drama happens. Besides, I had to make that whole Fred-Angelina thing happen, and this was the most entertaining way. But Aero is in fact a teenager. An emototinally stunted teenager. So they're not necessarily dramatics, it's just she can't process it. It's part of her character flaw. Emotions are a no-go captain. **

**But never fear, the action is near! Yes, we will get a move on with things. Of course, there will still be teen drama, they are in fact teens, but we'll also cover some other characters, get their views, get on with the ORDER and Ministry. Umbridge and Aero with confront, Angelina and Aero will confront, George will try to find his brother's spirit again, Katie will try to bring back the fire to Aero. Draco and Aero are on the mends. They'll be more sibling mushies with Aero-Harry, and some Harry-Cho and even some Harry-Ginny. Plus, while covering said ORDER, we'll get a look at the relationship of Remus and Tonks, because quite frankly, their relationship in the books was pushed aside so far you didn't even see it coming. I'd like to add to it. And some Desarie-Shane character development. I realized I didn't quite explain the relationship between them and Aero very well. They're like...siblings, I suppose. So we'll get into them and Selena. We'll be dealing with Aero's godmother Ebony and her family. Death Eaters will arrive. Secrets will come out. Betrayals and Loyalty come into play. It gets darker. Yes, Aero gets darker, the plot gets darker, more complex. And something happens between Aero-Fred, so be ready. And yes, Dean is NOT going anywhere, and I love the Criminal Minds reference ;) to them. I love Garcia and Morgan. Please, it'll make reading this more understandable if you try to put yourself in the position of the character, my writing can only convey so much. Emotions are high and the future uncertain, so people will make mistakes, they'll jump the gun etc. Bear that in mind and thank-you for reading. **

**And have you guys heard "**_Skinny Love_**" by Birdy? Amazing song. I shall listen to it whenever something sad happens in one of my stories. It makes me all sad, despite how beautiful it is. **

* * *

"I don't understand you sometimes, you know." Hermione said conversationally as they sat in the library.

Aero quirked an eyebrow at the younger girl as she laid her head on an open book.

"I mean to say, you're a mature witch. Why are you so bent on having company that is so..._immature_?"

"You mean...?"

"Well, you're attracted to Fred, and the twins are both slightly immature, aren't they? And Sirius, you look up to him, don't you? Sirius is a little...reckless as well. What do you like about them?" Hermione asked quietly.

Aero sighed and sat up straight.

"Don't know. Don't look too much into it. S'pose because Snuffles is more like me than you realize, and Fred is the first person to make me laugh."

"But now he just makes you cry."

"I do not cry!" Aero protested.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I understand the need to preserve your reputation, Aero, but you're a girl with a severely shattered heart. You've cried. Because you're human, despite how much you wish you weren't."

"What do you mean? I like being human, thank-you very much." Aero huffed, crossing her arms.

Hermione promptly closed her book and straightened her back, looking Aero dead in the eye with that unnerving stare she had.

"You hate being human because you hate being flawed. It's a natural reaction, given how you were raised. The expectations were too high. You were supposed to be perfect. Flaws were not an option. You hate not being strong all the time, because you think that makes you weak. You hate admitting you need help because you think that means you lost. You so dislike flaws, but that's all of what makes us human, and you Aero, can't accept that. It's so drilled into your mind that you have to be perfect, all the time, and do what is expected of you, that you can't accept you have flaws. But you're only human Aero. Only human. You have messy emotions, you're flawed. So yes, you've cried over Fred, because he broke your heart."

Aero stared, frowning at the bookworm who rifled through the pages of another text book.

She grabbed her bag and slipped it onto her shoulder and left the library. She should be studying for her N.E.. But she couldn't focus because her thoughts were so jumbled in her head. Everytime she closed her eyes she saw Fred's eyes, filled with tears. Ones she had put there. She felt her heart clench. It didn't help she was so tired. Remus was investigating the Werewolves, so he was gone most nights, which meant she got frequent calls from Sirius who was in a night terror, which only seemed to be getting worse. It took nearly twice as long as it first had to calm him down now.

Aero rubbed her hands over her face. Life was so fucked up at the moment. When did everything become to bleedin' complicated? She felt like she never stopped moving. She didn't sleep, because the night was devoted to Sirius. Her days were filled with classes, avoiding Fred, helping Hermione study before she had a panic attack, urging Katie to study because she was failing her classes, reminding Alicia she had to breath once in awhile when she absorbed information and keeping an eye on Umbridge.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the scene in front of her for a moment. She blinked and backtracked, staying out of sight as she look on. Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Aisley Silver and Cordelia Waint were there, all standing around a tiny little Slytherin girl who looked down at the floor with a resigned look on her face.

"So you think you can just what? Waltze in and steel my boyfriend? Do you not care about how much of a slag you look like, Greengrass?" Pansy snapped.

The girl visibly flinched but remained silent.

"What? Nothing to say? At least your sister here has class. Though she really should have had a better hand on you. Little bitch that you are. Draco is my boyfriend, you tramp. get your own."

"I believe she does have her own. It's you who is so pathetically love stricken. Tell me, Pansy, how does it feel to have an unrequited love?" Aero asked, stepping around the corner and stopping in front of the group, cocking her head to the side in mock curiousity.

"Stay out of this, Black." Pansy snarled.

"Easy, down doggie. I won't bite if you won't." Aero said with a smirk, raising her hands in surrender.

"This is none of your business." the older Greengrass interrupted.

"The girl there, the one you're harrassing, is my cousin's girlfriend. _Therefore_ it is my business, _bitch_. Step off."

Daphne Greengrass took a step forward, her eye practically blazing as her dark hair fell around her face.

"You step off, bitch. Leave my sister to me. Don't you have a blood traitor to - oh wait, you don't. Because he chose your best mate over you. I forgot. You're simply second best. Not even worth my time."

Aero's smirk grew further. Kid had balls.

"Well see, I've had how many boyfriends now? And you've got a grand total of...none. So I really don't think you can say anything, sweetie. Because I'll never be someone's second choice, and you'll always be no one's choice."

Aero should have expected the slap, but she didn't honestly think that someone in Pansy's group would have the nerve to do anything.

She raised a hand to her stinging cheek and looked at Daphne Greengrass in a new light. She promptly drew her fist back and launched it at her face. A sickening crunch was heard and Daphne fell to the floor, positively wailing.

"You bwoke my nose, you bwitch!" she shrieked, staring accussingly at her from the ground, her hand over her nose.

"Personally, I think it's a better look for you." Aero remakred casually.

Aero glanced briefly at Astoria who had her mouth open, an expression of shock written on her face. Aero grabbed her slim little wrist and moved them around the scene to another hall. She began to walk the Slytherin back to the Dungeons.

"Why'd you do that?"

"She had it coming."

"I mean...I mean why do that for _me_...?"

Aero looked sideways at the girl before shrugging.

"Draco fancies you. Told me about the other girls picking on you. Besides, I'd never stand around and watch someone be bullied for no reason."

Astoria muttered something under her breath.

"Pardon me?"

Astoria looked up and blushed before looking back down.

"I said...I just said I understand now why Draco speaks so highly of you." she said.

Aero was shocked now and nodded absently.

"I...think very highly of him as well." she replied.

They stopped at the Dungeon entrance.

"Thank-you...for a Gryffindor you're not _so_ bad." Astoria said.

Aero smirked and rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall.

"Crawl in your hole and go to sleep, little snake. Rest easy. Something tells me your dear Viper of a sister won't be in the snake pit tonight."

And with that Aero pushed off the wall and found her way back to the common room, shaking her fist slightly. She'd feel that punch in the morning.

"Where have you been?" Alicia asked, hands on her hips, as Aero entered the dormroom.

Aero paused before closing the door.

"I was at the library with Hermione."

"**No**. Hermione came in before curfew. You however, did not."

"What are you, my mother?" Aero muttered, moving towards her stand and pouring herself a glass.

"Aero! What do you think you're doing?"

"Having a drink. Feelin' bit parched. Want one?"

"N-no I do not want one!"

"Suit yourself." Aero said with a shrug.

Alicia have a frustrated cry.

"What on Merlin's Magic Carpet are you two being so loud about?" Katie questioned, coming into the dormroom herself.

"And _you_! Where have you been?" Alicia shouted, turning on her.

Katie held up her hands in surrender and cautiously walked to her bed.

"I was out with Darius, why?"

"Shagging, I suppose? Merlin, Katherine Danielynne Bell, have you ever heard of the word 'no'. Or what about STD?"

"STD isn't a word, it's an abbreviation." Katie said happily.

Alicia glowered at her.

"You know, I figured spending more time with Lee would loosen you up." Aero sighed.

Alicia blushed five different shades of red and opened her mouth like a fish.

"We know that's who you spend your time with, Leesh." Katie observed.

_"You know nothing!"_

"We know more than you'd like us to." Aero said with a grin.

_"Oh, Lee! You make my virgin heart race!"_ Katie mocked.

"I did not say that! Shut-up!"

_"Lee, oh Lee!"_

"I **hate** you..."

Aero broke into a laugh and sat on her bed, tipping her glass to her lips.

"So...I've been wondering...yesturday was Xoe's birthday...any word from her?" Katie asked, flopping down on her own bed.

Aero shook her head. She hadn't had any contact with her godmother Ebony or Xoe or the rest of their family. Ebony had been a death eater, serving as a Spy for Dumbledore during the first war because she had a change of heart. Of course when she could not force herself to return to Voldemort, her life was in even graver danger now. And her family's. So Dumbledore put them in a house and became their secret keeper. But she had not heard a word from them since. It was like they dropped off the face of the earth.

"That's so sad...I sent Xoe a birthday letter, but the Owl just brought it back. Like he couldn't find her..." Alicia sighed.

Aero nodded absently. She had told Katie and Alicia select information, like Xoe was in hiding, and they couldn't tell anyone. They knew that Voldemort would be after the Stict family, though they didn't know it was because of Ebony's past profession. They knew there was a "rebellion" against Voldemort and that she knew about it and she couldn't say anymore. It was awful that she couldn't give them any updates on their friend. Xoe had been their roommate for the first few years here before she switched to Beauxbatons. They kept in touch, and were on cloud 9 when Xoe returned for the tournament. They all deserved to know if their friend was alright...

"I'm sure Xoe's fine. You know her." Aero said.

"Yeah. Besides, even if worst came to worst, and they did find her...Xoe'd make sure to take down the lot of 'em with her..." Katie agreed.

"Don't say that! I don't want them to find her!" Alicia cried.

"Just because you don't want to think about it, or hear it doesn't mean it's not a possibility, Ali. I'm sorry, I really am, but we're in a precarious situation here. Anything could happen, Xoe knows that too. She's prepared." Aero murmured.

Alicia shook her head, tears in her eyes.

"Xoe never did anything wrong. She never hurt anyone...she shouldn't have to do this..." she cried.

"Not many people deserve Voldemort's wrath, Leesh. It's just the way things are..." Katie said gently, Alicia flinching slightly at the name.

"Then we have to do whatever to take him down! He can't have my friends! Xoe won't die if _he_ does. And we can't take him down if we're here, trapped under the scrutiny of Umbridge, that vile old cow!" Alicia said furiously.

"There's that fiery Gryffindor spirit." Katie said with approval.

"Aero. How do we do this? Having these secrets meetings aren't enough! I want to do more! I want to help, be out there in the action! What's it like? How do we get away from Umbridge?" Alicia asked immediatley.

"Ali...calm down. I admire the bravery you have, love, but there's nothing we can do right now. We have to stay here, it's safer in Hogwarts. Besides, as far as I know, Voldemort isn't planning on coming out in the open right now. Until then, we have to pretend like we know nothing. As for Umbridge...we have to just grin and bear it. She's not going anywhere anytime soon. But we can't just wage war on here openly because we need to stay under the Ministry's radar. They're dead set on ignoring the signs that Voldemort is back and will take out anyone who says otherwise. If you want to help the cause, you've got to stay out of Azkaban."

Katie and Alicia were silent for a moment.

"I knew it." Katie muttered.

"Pardon me?" Aero asked.

"I knew it...I knew it! You're in that rebellion group, aren't you? That's why you know so much! You know what Voldemort - _for heaven's sake, Leesh_ - is doing, because you're one of the people tracking him!" Katie exclaimed.

Aero cursed herself mentally.

"_Quiet down, I don't quite think they heard you in New York!" _

"I know, sorry. Under the radar, right. So...the big question is...can we join?"

Aero sighed and ran a hand frustratedly through her hair.

"No...you're still in school."

"_So are you!"_ Alicia stated.

"But I'm also working in the Ministry."

"So you're a spy!" Katie gasped, apparrently awe stricken.

"Kates..._shhh_. Merlin's balls. I'm doing whatever Dumbledore tells me to do. That's all."

"So Dumbledore really is running things?" Alicia asked.

"Yes..."

"Wicked. So you're like...way in this, right? A big player here? I mean, you're working for Dumbledore to take out one of the most horrible, powerful Wizards of all time and betraying the Ministry from the inside out. That's wicked...so when we graduate, we can join?" Katie wondered.

"I suppose, yes. He just doesn't want students involved...it's dangerous, Katie. I mean, Umbridge as put me under inspection for a reason. I became and Auror for a reason. Fudge has always had the sneaking suspicion about DUmbledore, so he wanted to keep an eye on him. I was close to DUmbledore because of Harry, so therefore I became a pawn. I'm a relative of SIrius and was there the night he disappeared. Pawn. I come from a famous family. Pawn. It looks good, to have a Black on their team, and I'm useful, like they can keep an eye on SIrius and Dumbledore through me. That's why I was offered the position. It helps that I'm a good duelist and a Metamorph too. But now, Umbridge has taken it upon herself to prove how untrustworthy I am, and she'll do _anything_ to throw me in Azkaban and out of the way. I don't trust her...she's up to something. I don't think this is just about the Ministry and Sirius and Dumbledore...she's up to something. I just need to figure out what. I need to figure _her_ out before she figures _me_ out..."

Aero gave a tired sigh and sank back onto her pillows. She was so tired she completely missed the determined look on one of her friend's faces...

* * *

The stars were shining, lighting up the darkness. But that was the only light that night. Only the stars brought light. Everything else was dark, cold. The feeling of betrayal twisted in her stomach. She didn't care for the Mudbloods, the half-bloods and Werewolves and house elves. She didn't care about trivial matters, as others seemed to. She saw the danger, the fear. That's the only focus she had. Some might call it self-preservation. Others an act of betrayal.

Yes, it may be selfish, what she was doing. It might be self-preservation. And the only downside was the feeling of betrayal that was trying to ring out her gut. She was doing what she had to do. It may be considered rationalizing with oneself after a mistake made, but she honestly wasn't trying to justify her actions. Her mind was made up. She was doing what must be done. She would bear the consequences when they came.

But she could see the images in her mind. The night Sirius came to her, crying. She could see him being taken away in chains. The look on her goddaughter's face when her world was tampered with and came crashing down around her. She could see now, the grey eyes that usually held so much fire, so much spirit fill with angry tears. See the confused face of her children. Perhaps they would understand when they had children of their own. She silently hoped they would.

She didn't want to betray her goddaughter. She watched her grow up, become an amazing young woman. She kept her promise to Sirius. She made sure her goddaughter led a good life, as he wanted. She wasn't betraying him. SHe would always be there for her. Even if the girl hated her, despised her,she would be there, in the end. Her children would understand...they would understand in time why she must do this.

She collected her thoughts and took a calming breath. She raised her hand, the dark cloak that covered her hodded figure slip down to her elbow, and knocked on the door. The Peacock watched her from the yard, and the stars shined above her. She could feel the link between her and everyone else being shattered as the door slowly opened. WHen the figure in the shadows waved her in, she stepped inside and reluctantly raised her hands to her hood and let it fall. She opened her eyes and lifted her head, staring at the candle-lit chandelier above her. She could feel the quick beating her heart, and the small voice of doubt in her head disappear. It was too late for regrets now.

She followed the woman into the rest of the house and found a place at the crowded table, her eyes downcast.

A cold, familiar voice drawled from the head of the table, making a shill run eerily down her spine, like she was a young girl again...

_"Welcome back, Ebony." _

* * *

Tonks made her way through the halls of Grimmauld Place, Desarie and Shane close behind her. They had all just gotten back from an assignment, some bloke cursing Muggles in Bristol. Desarie grabbed her elbow, steering her away from that bleedin' umbrella stand she always tripped on.

"There drinks in this place?" Shane questioned.

"Sure. Think Sirius keeps 'em in the kitchen." Tonks replied.

Tonks walked through the rest of the house, down the stairs and into the kitchen, fetching some firewhiskey and bringing it into the parlor room, stumbling as she did so. It seemed no one besides Sirius was home, and of course the creepy house elf who was constantly calling her a 'mistake'. _Well_...

"Where is everyone else?" Desarie wondered.

"Out. Remus is looking after the Werewolves somewhere, should be back to check in soon though. Sirius is upstairs, probably sleeping since it's so late. Everyone else is home or on assignment."

"Wish I was home. Merlin, I'm exhausted." Shane sighed, ruffling his hair.

"Ah, so am I. And we don't even get to sleep, because I have to go back to work in four hours and you have to watch Selena in five. The neighbor ladies can't watch her forever." Desarie muttered, taking a sip.

"Aw, why not? According to her, they're teaching her how to knit and she sits in on their book club meetings. I think she rather likes it..." Shane whined playfully.

Desarie threw a cushion at him.

"She's three, going on four. She needs friends her age, not seventy-two year old women."

Shane shrugged and took a gulp of whiskey.

"Speaking of kids...any word from my little cousin?" Tonks asked.

"None. Katie Bell is the only one writing now, telling us little things about Aero. Short letters, vague. Merlin, when she wrote about Aero's little breakdown I nearly had heartfailure." Desarie groaned.

Tonks nodded. Her cousins seemed to be losing their minds recently. Must be genetics.

"I'm almost afraid for the kid. I mean, it's always been hard for her to be ruled by emotions. I think she'd prefer it if she didn't have any at all. And now she's just drowning in them." Shane replied.

"It doesn't help that she's under all this stress. I mean, kids her age don't have to deal with this stuff, you know? She's supposed to be dealing with homework and detentions at school, not betraying the Ministry, keeping a convict hidden and risking Azkaban time fighting a dark lord. Plus, an engagement that was just broken off because her fiancee had been revealed almost shagging her best mate. Merlin, I would not go back to school for all the money in the world." Tonks sighed, shaking her head.

"All the drama. I wish we could say it ends when you graduate but I don't think it does. Or maybe it's just us..." Desarie commented.

"Ah, she'll get through it." Shane said, waving his hand dismissiveley.

"What if she doesn't? She might actually need help..." Desarie said.

Tonks pursed her lips.

"Aero doesn't accept help easily. She's going to have to ask for it on her own. SHe better do it quick. Things are only going to get more complicated."

"Mhmm. I mean, we can only keep them in for so long."

Shane looked more interested then. It wasn't that he didn't care about his 'little sister's' teen drama, he did because he had been there before and it was shite, but while his wife and friend were concerned about her love life, he was more concerned with her phyisical well being. And to keep her safe, he had to keep certain people away from her. Like her parents, for one.

"I've been guarding Azkaban from afar, and everything seems silent as of now." he said.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything though, does it? Voldemort is on the down low right now. He knows what he's doing. A smart villain is always the most dangerous. We have to assume he's planning on breaking his followers out soon. They have to know he's back. They have the dark mark, I highly doubt it's there for decoration." Tonks said.

"At the moment, as long as there's no movement in Azkaban, I'm happy. The LeStranges' are safely locked away, which means my sister is free to deal with whatever girl drama she has shaking up her love boat."

Desarie whacked him with another cushion.

"You're _such_ a bloke..."

Tonks laughed before walking back down to the kitchens to get something eat. As the sound of the bickering couple lessened, a new sound found her ears. She stopped in the corridor, listening. She cocked her head to the side and followed it up the stairs. She frowned when she found herself at Sirius's door and hesitantly turned the knob, opening the door to darkness. There was a sort of whimpering sound, quieter than the keening that had been coming earlier.

She wearily lit her wand before lighting the candles in the lamps in her cousin's room. She watched, horrifyingly transfixed as Sirius writhed on the bed, his eyes clenched shut, sweat on his face, nail marks down his body as if he had been clawing at something underneath his skin, leaving bleeding lines that stained his bedsheets. His hair was disheveled and stuck to his face. His mouth was open as he whimpered, his bottom lip trembling as tears sprung from his eyes. His hands flung to his head and raked them down his face.

Tonks lifted a hand to her mouth, watching with wide eyes as her cousin's frame contorted, arching from the bed, his face pained.

_"No...no no no...away...go...leave...innocent...please...no...no no no no noooo...Hogwarts...please, **please**..."_ he chanted quietly, clawing at his face again.

His shirt was off, only dressed in pajama bottoms. A bottle of whiskey on top of his nightstand, pictures strewn across the floor. Tonks manuvered around them and cautiously walked up to the bed. She could see his slim figure. Despite how they all made sure he ate, and he had gained weight, she could still see his ribs sticking out, his stomach slightly sunken in. His had tattoos. She had never noticed before.

A phoenix, black with red flames, intriquetly etched into his side. He arched in pain again and Tonks froze. She had no idea how to help him. She was afraid her voice or her touch would startle the incoherant man.

Instead she watched him again. He had scars. Many more scars that Aero, but still less than Remus probably had. She could tell the difference between the scars he had gained from his raging friend and the ones he had gained otherwise. He had four long scars cruved around a forearm. Some across his chest, from shoulder down to his side, just above his waist. She could see the beginnings of scars peek around him from the back. He had a number burned into his skin, no doubt his number from Azkaban, burned into his skin right above his heart.

He whimpered again and Tonks quickly cast a silencing charm on the room. Sirius hadn't told anyone of his night terrors for a reason...

"_No...please..."_ he sobbed.

Tonks felts tears of sympathy prick her eyes. Finally she reached of and let her fingers skim his arm.

"Sirius..." she whispered.

_"Please...go...no..." _

Tonks wondered if she should send for Remus. But wait...she couldn't. She couldn't risk exposing him to the other Werewolves. She could take care of her own. Aero would do it. Her baby cousin, who was so much younger, who already had enough stress to drown an ordinary witch, would have no hesitance in taking care of her own blood. So therefore, it was only expected that Tonks herself be able to comfort her blood. She could handle Sirius. If Aero could, she could. No matter how terrifying or alarming and unsettling this was...

"Sirius, it's Tonks...Sirius you're safe now...Sirius, please wake-up..._please_..." she whispered, her own lip trembling.

Sirius twisted again and something fell from his pocket. Tonks quickly scooped it up before he impaled himself on it. It was a shard of mirror. Why did Sirius have such a thing on him?

She jumped when his hand grasped that hand's wrist tightly, in a vice grip more like. His eyes were wide open and she could see the plain terror in his glazed over eyes, wet with his tears.

_"Aero...Aero...make...away...please...Aero..."_ he whimpered.

Tonks opened her mouth to explain to him she was a different cousin before she jumped again, this time because the shard spoke.

**"Sirius, are you alright?"**

Tonks stared wide-eyed at the mirror and met the eyes of her frantic cousin.

"Aero?" Tonks asked.

_"**Aero**...please...they're here...coming...to get me...stop...innocent..."_

**"Tonks, you have to calm him down. He's going to hurt himself."** Aero demanded.

Tonks, still slightly startled, nodded.

"He's already sratched himself bloody...Aero, how do I calm him down?"

**"Shit. He's getting worse. It used to just be nightmares, now he's harming himself...shit. Tonks, I need you to restrain him. He won't wake up. Restrain him until he tires himself out. I usually have to read stories to him for several hours before he stops. But that's not going to cut it anymore if he harms himself now. Restrain him. Talk to him until he exhausts himself."**

"That's it? That's all you're giving me? Aero! This isn't a normal nightmare!" Tonks cried desperately.

**"I'm sorry, Tonks. There's nothing I can do for him from here. For now...just hold him."** Aero replied sadly. She sounded almost as pained as Sirius.

"This isn't normal..." Tonks muttered, wide eyed and distressed.

**"It is...for someone who's losing their sanity."**

Tonks put down the mirror when Aero's image left. She looked slowly back at her other cousin who was twisting and contorting himself, as if trying to get away from something that was only in his mind.

It was surreal, she thought as she shakily climbed onto the bed. She lifted him with shaking hands and placed herself behind him, Sirius laying back on her. She moved her legs to either side of him to hold him in place and her arms encircled him. She made soothing noises. It was surreal though...she'd never seen anything like this. And Sirius...Sirius was always fine in front of everyone else. It's like he left his demons and his tears and his fears behind his bedroom door. She wondered briefly if that's what Aero had been doing. Sirius and her were so alike sometimes. And Sirius was here, twisting and turning, keening and whimpering in her arms. She had never been close to Sirius as she was with Aero. Sirius didn't have many friends now. He was left alone a lot. Perhaps she could be around more. She couldn't imagine being locked away like this, dealing with everything on her own, seeing the things he did in Azkaban everytime he closed his eyes. He lived such a tragic life. He had lost practically everyone. Stuck in a house of his childhood nightmares. Drowning in his own guilt, hatred and fear. Aero's last sentence burned into her brain. "For someone who's losing their sanity..." How long had these been going on? How long had Aero been trying to help him? How did Aero know he was losing his mind? Was this was she was like during her breakdowns? She said she couldn't do anything for him now he was hurting himself and so incoherent, so what would happen to Sirius now? Would he go through this pain every night, suffering alone? Did Remus know? Did Dumbledore?

Tonks felt herself cry for the pain of her cousin as he cried out in her arms for whoever was taunting him to go away. She held him tightly to her. She would step up. She would step up now, for her family. She only had two cousins, or at least two that wanted anything to do with her, and they were suffering, and she hadn't lifted a finger to help them. What's worse is she hadn't seen the signs that they needed help, they needed someone. Katie had to write to her to inform her about Aero, and Sirius had to literally cry out for her to hear him. She should've seen something. She should've done something sooner. They shouldn't have to go through this. But she would step up. Sirius wouldn't go through this alone, and despite the distance, she would let Aero know she was there to fall back on.

She rocked them back and forth like a mother with a colicy child and in a whispered voice told Sirius about a story she used to read as a child, Babbity Rabbity. It felt like hours later when the door opened and Tonks looked up, her vision obscurred by her tears, to the door. Sirius was finally asleep. She had told him about Babbity Rabbity, the Muggle stories from her father of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

She gazed at the figure who closed the door and walked quickly to the bed. Remus knelt in front of her, his face filled with concern. This was Sirius's last friend, the last good Marauder. She wondered if the poor man even knew what went on with Sirius.

"He's fine now..." she whispered brokenly.

Remus raised a hand and gently wiped away her tears.

"And what about you?" he asked quietly.

Tonks shook her head as the tears came back and Remus engulfed her in a tight embrace as Sirius turned to his side, finally peacefully asleep. They wiggled her out from under the man and Remus led her outside the door after tucking Sirius in and blowig out the lights. He turned and looked down at her.

"What happened?" he asked.

Tonks shook her head again and sobbed out the whole disturbing story. Remus took her again in his arms and his hands made soothing circles on her back that sent tingles down her spine as she rested her head against his chest.

"He needs someone." Tonks whispered.

"I know."

"Aero can't take care of him from Hogwarts."

"I know."

"He needs _you_, Remus."

There was a pause.

_"I know."_

* * *

"I assume you know why you are here, Ms. Black?"

Aero resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yes, Professor Umbridge."

"Ms. Greengrass has reported you for abuse. You've assaulted a student. Now, you should be expelled for such appalling behavior but Cornelius -" **giggle** " - I mean, _Minister Fudge_, has vouched on your behalf that you are a _wonderful_ young lady, - "**giggle**" - and simply had a lapse in judgement."

"I thank the Minister for his generosity." Aero replied dully.

"As you should. You see, if we were to expel you, you wouldn't finish your education, which would mean in short, that you would no longer be able to work at the Ministry and would have to be let go from your position as an Auror. That would just be so, so _tragic_." Umbridge said sweetly.

"Yes. It would be rather unfortunate."

"I'm sure something like this won't happen again. I sincerely hope this won't turn out to be a habbit of yours, being so _violent_ and _abusive_. The Ministry doesn't take abuse lightly, you know. Poor Ms. Greengrass had a broken nose. _Poor thing_."

"Did she tell you she was bullying a younger student?" Aero snapped.

"Ah ah ah. Now Ms. Black, you must reign in that temper of yours. It's so...violent. I'm afraid I have to put this incident in your investigation report. This will not look good, I'm afraid." Umbridge replied in mock sympathy.

Aero glowered at her from her seat. Her hands gripped the arm rests so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Now. I want you to write lines for me Ms. Black. _I will not be an abuser_."

Umbridge handed the deadly quil to Aero who reluctantly took it. She lifted her hand to the paper as Umbridge sat down across from and watched her, with a smile on her face.

Aero took her glance from her frog of a teacher to the paper. She began to write and felt the dull prick in her skin. Aero flexed her fingers on the other hand and continued writing. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. Did it hurt? Yes. But more like a sting. Perhaps because she had just started, of maybe because Mad-eye had given her a high tolerance for it during their training. Or maybe because physical pain was nothing compared to her emotional pain. Whatever teh case, Umbridge clearly was going to find a better means of breaking her...


	26. Chapter 26 Catfight

"She's a bit of a tyrant, you know." Alicia muttered under her breath as they sat in Umbridge's class.

Katie, Aero and Alicia were seated close together towards the back of the room, far from Umbridge. Aero watched through narrowed eyes as Umbridge waddled around the front of the classroom, writing on the chalkboard as they did book work. Katie, who sat on her other side, was painting her nails, each fingure a different color because she _'couldn't decide which one went better with Darius' skin tone_'.

"A _bit_? That's like saying You-Know-Who is a "_smidge_" demented." Katie scoffed, rolling her eyes and tossing her head so her bangs fell from her face.

"Are you really comparing our Defense teacher to a power-hungry cockroach?" Alicia said, leaning over to the desk in front of Aero to see Katie.

"_Cockroach_?" Aero muttered absently.

"Cockroaches never seem to die...and neither does this lunatic." Alicia replied.

"Well then yes. I am. Because no matter how much I telepathically try to kill her, she keeps coming back to class." Katie sighed dramatically, wiggling her fingers as if to make them dry faster.

Alicia rolled her eyes this time.

A small yet obnoxious "_a-hem_" brought them back to attention and they "focused" back on their work. In all honesty, they were already done. Most people in the class were. Umbridge seemed to believe they were uneducated imbeciles and spoke to them like toddlers. Which, not surpisingly, most students found rather offensive.

Katarina Molwen, a 7th year Ravenclaw, was even sketching out a dramatic death sequence of their dear resident hag in her textbook, a rather odd thing for a Ravenclaw to do, defiling a textbook. That was a statement. Umbridge was so bad, even the Ravenclaws would resort to vandalism of their beloved books to act out against her...

Darius and Dean were two rows in front, talking with their friends, the type you'd imagine Dean would hang out with. Dean was actually currently falling asleep sitting up while Darius passed something, no doubt a payment, into someone else's hands.

Angelina was sitting with Isabella Finch, a spineless little Gryffindor who was plain as day, and Elizabeth Webster, who had a face of an angel and inner demons of a hooker and was apparrently the hot topic lately.

"I'm not surprised they're all sitting together. All the ones who open their legs. I don't know why they come to class. All they need to do make sure they know how to lay on their backs in the most comfortable position." Katie hissed, glaring over at the trio.

"I thought I was the one she backstabbed, Kates." Aero said with amusement.

"Yes, but she backstabbed my friend, so therefore she is public enemy number one."

"She's not a bloody terrorist, Kathryn." Alicia chided.

"She's an relationship terrortist."

"Oh _honestly_, now."

"Alright. I'll bite. What's she got in common with her new 'friends'?" Aero sighed.

Katie grinned eager to report her gossip. The thing about Katie's gossip was she didn't report rumors, she reported the truth, knowing somehow the differences. Maybe it was her unbelievable ability to read people.

"Alright. Well, little Isabella over there, surpising as it may be, landed the ever-gorgeous _uptight_ gentleman Elrich Carson. _We-ll_, they're getting serious, right, and suddenly, he has to leave. His grandmother got ill or something, and he left for two months, still not back yet, and Isabella turns to her best friend for comfort, 5th year Hufflepuff Corey Duncan. Well, they did the deed, and someone let it slip to dear prince of broodyness, and now they're on the rocks. Isabella claims to be _in love with both of them_." Katie paused to roll her eyes.

"She went practically catatonic and tried to commit suicide. It's ridiclous. She's _really_ set the standard for needy clingy girlfriends."

"I'm sure she's a very nice girl though." Alicia amended.

"Psh, yeah, alright. Point is, she fits right in with dear Angie." Katie explained.

"And what about Elizabeth?" Aero asked.

"Well, there's always that pregnant girl, right? We've had a few of them, Jessica Parsons last year, Harlow Brown the year before. Well, Elizabitch is the latest. Honestly, I don't care much if you get pregnant or whatever, you know? But she was seriously dating Lucas Saunders since third year. They were making plans for marriage -" _Aero winced slightly at this_ " - and ends up cheating on him, for the third time, with his brother no less, and now she's pregnant and completley clueless as to who the father is. The only thing that ticks me the wrong way is that they don't own up to what they do. You know?" Katie huffed, completely frustrated by the drama of others.

Aero shook her head.

"I try not to get involved with other's things. If it frustrates you so much, why not do the same?"

Katie looked at her, her expression clearly stating that was a ridiculous suggestion. As Katie finally decided on a color and Alicia took out a book to read, hidden in her lap under the desk, Aero couldn't help but look over at Angelina. Things had been tense in the dormroom still. True, Aero and Katie were no longer full out making her miserable with pranks, though they still did the occassional one like turning her braids into snakes and calling her Medusa and trying to snake-call and make Harry speak Parseltongue to them, or making her so flat chested she resembled a boy, but that didn't make things any better. Angelina still pranced around like she was holier-than-thou, like she committed no crime. The truth was she committed the worst crime, according to Katie, which was dating your best friend's bloke. It was rule number one.

Almost as if sensing her gaze, Angelina turned her head to the side and looked at her, holding her steady gaze. Aero pursed her lips slightly in irritation and Angelina raised an eyebrow in taunting question before pointedly looking at Fred, who conveniently sat behind Aero, and ran her hand slowly down her thigh, a smug smirk on her face, like she was going to get off in class thinking about Fred.

Aero had never truly aknowledged the feeling of jealous rage, but she could feel her eyes tingle, turning green with jealousy, and she glowered at her fellow Gryffindor. What nerve her new Captain had to assume Aero would let her get away with something like that, right in front of her face? Did she think Aero wouldn't react? Aero knew Dumbledore didn't want her making any fuss under Umbridge's nose, and she understood that all well and good, but Umbridge took a back seat to this pathetic bitch. Aero turned her hands into fists, clenching around her skirt ruffles.

Now, had she been thinking like her usual logical self, granted before all this happened, she would have known Angelina was provoking her, calling her bluff that she'd actually do anything and not engage. But as a teenage girl, which she never liked to admit really, she was ruled by hormones and emotions. _So, naturally... _

Aero spun around out of her seat and slipped into the back row, pushing Lee from his seat onto the floor and sitting next to Fred, who watched her, startled.

_"Aero. What are -"_ he began but Aero had slammed a hand behind her head, clenched in his hair and pulled him forward, locking their lips together and pulled his bottom lip into her mouth.

Fred stiffened for a moment but Aero bit his lip and she felt him lean into the kiss, his tongue suddenly demanding and pushing its way between her lips. His hands gripped her hips tightly, leaving no room for second guessing her actions. His hands urged her closer, his own lean body towering over her form, his fingers instantly sliding her shirt up to touch her skin just slightly.

Aero felt the sparks come flying back into her, igniting her body and fogging her mind. All she could see were the stars behind her eyelids, all she could smell and touch and feel was Fred. For a moment she forgot she was in class with Umbridge, that Angelina was watching them, that this had been a reaction to Angelina's taunting. She couldn't fathom why she had stayed away from him for so long, why she hadn't forgiven him sooner, because she had this sudden longing for him. Like all of a sudden what had been done had ever happened and they were back together. These sparks were just as electrifying as they had been the first time, if not better.

She molded her lips against his, her heart beating unsettlingly faster as she felt his tongue cox hers into his own mouth, and she got a blast of sugar and butterbeer that made her clench her fists tighter and pull at his hair and felt the soft vibrations of his swallowed groan of approval on her lips. Unfortunately the need for air broke the heated spell and she opened her eyes, glazed over and her head spinning. Fred attached himself to her neck, trying to make her practically sit in his lap.

She could see in her peripheral vision that Katie and George were up in front of the class, distracting Umbridge by making it appear that George could not stop vomiting, no doubt thanks to the twins' products. Katie was shrieking at Umbridge to do something, and Umbridge was doing some weird tribal nervous dance.

And then Angelina, staring at Aero, a permanent scowl on her face and if looks could kill, Aero would've been to hell and back several times. Aero grinned victoriously over Fred's shoulder before shuddering when Fred obviously left a mark on the junction in her neck. She gripped his hair with one hand, holding his head to her as she shivered under his tongue, and looked pointedly at Angelina before slipping her other hand down and fully gripping the buldge in the red head's jeans.

Aero's look clearly asked the rhetoricaly question of _'have you ever made him that hard?_'

Fred jerked his hips in response, biting roughly on her shoulder and Aero tugged his hair strongly in response.

_"Umbridge!"_ Lee and Alicia hissed warningly under their breaths.

Fred and Aero leapt away from each other, their lips swollen and faces flushed.

Umbridge was walking up the way, a staggering George and grinning Katie behind her. Katie silently rushed up to George's side and shoved a colored pill in his mouth and George straightened out, grinning from ear to ear.

_"Professor! It's a miracle! Your mere presence has returned me to full health!"_ he exclaimed joyfully.

* * *

Aero avoided everyone for the rest of the day. She had no idea what had come over her in class. She had fully intended on not giving into Fred and his kicked puppy looks, but yet she completely mauled him in Defense class? Could she not make up her mind?

And despite the still lingering betrayal and hurt she felt, the fact that trust would not come back easily, she could not deny the pull she still felt with him, the sparks that relit her heart everytime they touched, and the fact that she understood why he did what he did and still loved him. Those facts were a part of their relationship now. But this make-up-break-up game wasn't healthy for either one of them.

Could she take another heartbreak if it went badly again? Could ever completely trust him again? Wasn't everyone always saying a relationship was built on love, honesty and trust? She had the love, they currently had the honestly down pat (for the moment), but the trust was no longer there.

"You love him, don't you?"

Aero spun around from her perch in the Quidditch stands. Harry was standing there, hands shoved in his pockets, back hunched against the wind.

"Rather unfortunately for my heart, yes I do." she muttered, staring back at the field.

"Are you sure? I mean, look at how he's treated you?"

Aero sighed and Harry took a seat beside her.

"He's not the only one who's been in the wrong. I contribute my fair share to our problems as well."

"But all your secrets, they aren't your secrets to tell." Harry protested.

"Oh? What about my parents? I think that if I'm going to marry a bloke I should at least tell him that my parents are psychotic death eaters locked away in Azkaban."

"Well you couldn't just tell him over a cup of morning Pumpkin juice."

Aero grinned slightly.

"No, I suppose I never had the oportune time to. I had been afraid for myself, of what he would think or do. I couldn't bear to lose him after I had just gotten him back."

"That's an understandable reaction.."

"So is trying to find comfort in whoever offers it. That's what he was doing, taking comfort in someone else because I was the one causing pain. And he didn't actually go through with it, did he? No, we both did what was best for us at the time. Now, if we ever want to be together, we have to do what's best for the both of us, not just one of us."

Harry was silent for a moment.

"Is it worth it? I mean, is love really supposed to be this hard?" he asked quietly.

Aero glanced over at him before looking at the ground.

"No one ever told me love was supposed to be easy. And each love is different. But you have to work at it, yes. Besides...I never thought I'd ever find love. So for someone like me, this 'hard love' is easy in comparison to the nothing I could have otherwise."

Harry studied her for a moment before putting an arm over her shoulders.

"I suppose...if he makes you happy...then I'm happy for you. Just...be sure this is what you want. You deserve love, Aero, don't let anybody ever tell you different. You deserve someone who loves you."

"I give you the same advice, little brother."

"Even if it is with my best mate's brother...my sister and my best mate's brother..." Harry shook his head, smiling.

"We might be inlaws you know, it all depends on if I choose to marry the wanker."

Harry frowned, confused.

"How so? I might be close to Ron, but I assure you, we sleep in seperate beds."

Aero laughed.

"No no. You and Ginny will marry someday."

"Wha-where did you get an idea like that?"

"It's not an idea. I know it. You and Ginny will fall in love, get married and have babies. You better have lots of babies."

Harry shook his head at her, slightly awed.

"Don't shake your head at me. I'm telling you the truth. And you better be a perfect gentleman."

"You're mental."

"No. Female intuition. You're meant to be. Written in the stars."

"Oh yeah? Where?"

"Can't tell you if they're not out yet."

"Oh how _convenient_."

* * *

"_Stop it_!" Alicia cried helplessly.

"You're a real bitch, you know that?" Angelina shouted.

"Oh ho, _I'm_ the bitch here? I was under the impression that being a backstabbing whore made _you_ more qualified for the position!" Aero shouted back.

"I'm not the one who kept secrets from him! I'm not the one hurting him!"

"No! You're just the one that took advantage of him!"

"He wanted it!"

"He wanted a _distraction_, not _you_!"

"You just can't comprehend anyone wanting me over you!"

Aero scoffed and through her arms out in frustration.

"What I can't comprehend if how you've managed to delude yourself into thinking Fred would want anything to do with you!"

"You didn't hear him, Black. Grunting, sighing _my_ name." Angelina said with a smirk.

"The fact that you have all the parts of a female may make him _sigh_ -" Aero rolled her eyes "- **but you can't make him scream like I can**." she added with a smirk of her own.

Angelina gave a scream of irritation and stepped closer.

"Just admit that for once someone chose me over you." she demanded.

"I would if it were true."

Angelina swung her arm back and slapped Aero hard across the face, a look of fury on her face. The slap echoed around the room and Aero briefly felt the sting before she drew her body back and took a step forward, launching her fist into Angelina's nose and hearing the satisfying crunch as Angelina spun around, stumbled over her feet, and slammed into a table.

She looked up, her hands steadying herself on the table, her nose bleeding freely, as she glared holes into Aero who stood, panting, tense as if ready to throw another punch.

"You'll never be the same again you know...because everytime you go to shag him, remember him on top of me..." Angelina hissed, one hand on her nose as she advanced towards Aero again.

Isabella was over by Alicia, both looking stricken and helpless.

"Oh? So I guess riding was just reserved for me then?" Aero replied coldly.

Angelina gave a shout and shot at her, her agility on the field coming into play as she slammed Aero into the wall. Aero's head hit the hard wall with a loud thud and she gasped in surprise and pain and hunched over slightly as Angelina landed a fit in her gut, holding her there.

_"You're not better than me!"_ Angelina hissed in her ear.

Aero shoved her arms forward and elbowed the back of Angelina's head, sending her face flying forward into the wall, smearing her blood there, she stumbled forward, regaining her footing and leaning on a bed for support as she watched Angelina with narrowed eyes.

"Fortunately, I am when it comes to fighting." Aero told her through her gritted teeth.

Aero went forward this time, grabbing Angelina roughly by the hair and throwing her into the door, face first, before fumbling backwards. Angelina slumped to the floor, glowering up at her before getting up hastily rising to her feet reaching out to grab Aero around the wrist and tug her forward only to knee her just under her ribs. Aero gave a shout of surprise and fell to the floor in a heap.

She pressed her hands onto the floor and pushed herself up just as the door opened. Hermione stood there, gaping and then she was pushed aside when both older girls shoved each other out the door.

"He doesn't need you!"

"You're just the rebound slut!"

Angelina pushed against Aero's shoulders and Aero lost her balance, both girl's eyes going wide as they realized where they were standing. Aero felt herself fall and at last minute reached out for something and grabbed Angelina's sleeve, tugging the girl with her for a free fall. Aero felt the first pain hit her neck and arched it as another attacked her back and heard Angelina cry out in pain and a lot of thudding, somersaulting and dizzyness and something crashed repeatedly into her head with a powerful force as her feet continuously flew over her head, her hands uselessly trying to grab something to stop her descent. All in a matter of what felt like seconds of the world turning upside down 500 times and being beaten in the head and kicked all over, hearing a shriek that did not belong to herself, a hand hit her cheek, and then a final crash that left her tangled in a heap and something warm all over her head and then..._nothing_.


	27. Chapter 27 Keys and Kisses

**NOTICE: posted a new story, Cupid's Chokehold, based off of the story IsolemnlyswearI'mUptoNoGood and I previously wrote (and took down). We're writing another one, a next gen one, on our account (posted on my profile). CC is a Fred/OC, George/OC, and I swear, the storys better than that crap summary I posted, ahaha. **

**Now, I've gotten quite a few questions askiking what my update schedule is. Well, I have to take life into consideration, but generally I get my updates done either on a Friday or Saturday night. Sometimes, earlier, if you're lucky and I have no social life and glue myself to the computer. **

**Also, I've gotten messages about how this story will end. Am I going to kill Fred? What will happen to Aero? Well, dearies, we're only in the fifth book now. Calm down haha. I know the ending, it's the road I take to get there you should be wondering about...(A.K.A completely spontaneous ideas to reach the already written ending.)**

* * *

There's a fire starting in my heart,  
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark,

Finally, I can see you crystal clear,  
Go ahead and sell me out and a I'll lay your ship bare,  
See how I'll leave with every piece of you,  
Don't underestimate the things that I will do

We could have had it all,  
(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

**Rolling in the Deep** - Adele _(Love that song. It's like...empowering?) _

* * *

There was an obnoxious drumming sound all around her, a steady beat that was much too loud. She felt sore, an ache all over her body. And for the love of Merlin she couldn't find the energy to open her eyes. Instead she chose to listen to the sounds around her, at least try to, with the drumming and all. It was something Mad-eye had taught her, after all. _"Until you're sure of your situation, don't let the enemy know you're concious, focus silently on your surroundings and then attack when opportunity strikes." _

There were voices, she couldn't make them out, but definately female. There was the sound of metal clashing gently against something. Heels clicking on the floor. The sound of a door. A low, pain-filled groan of a man somewhere a little away from her. She almost jumped when she felt something touch her arm. It was cold and felt good against her skin which felt like it was over-heating. Something poked at her temples, one at her pulsepoint. She resisted the urge to flinch. She was in uncertain territory. She could not react yet.

She tried hard to remember the events before now, but her mind couldn't come up with anything. Everything was hazy. Had her mind been tampered with? Had she been imperioused? No. Mad-eye had trained her against it. Had she been obliviated? Possible. But why?

She listened to the heel click away and the sound of the door again. With great effort she managed to open her eyes. She was staring at a bland colored ceiling with translucent lighting the shocked her pupils. She rotated her line of sight around her, taking a moment to realize she had in fact not been captured, she was...in St. Mungos. On a bed. In one of the wards.

She furrowed her brows and lifted herself onto her forearms. Her mouth tasted funny. So she had obviously had some potions...

"Awake, kid?"

Aero's eyes darted to the corner of her bed. Somehow she had completly missed Shane standing there. He had circles under his eyes. He had lost some weight. And the boyish glint in his eyes was dwindling.

"You look like shite." she commented dryly, her voice hoarse.

"Well. Pot, I'm kettle, nice to meet you." he said, rolling his eyes and sitting by her feet.

"Mad-eye's over-working you." she stated.

"I can handle my own rounds. And we're not here to talk about me. I'm not the one who just woke up in a hospital bed."

Aero looked down at her lap, frowning.

"What happened?" she asked.

Shane sighed.

"You fell down a flight of stairs. And you know Hogwarts staircases, they're extremely long and made of cold, unforgiving stone. Now, some people can feel the urge to fall. I don't judge. But next time, maybe start with the bed first?"

Aero rolled her eyes now.

"In all seriousness, you got some pretty decent damage done. You and Angelina fell down the flight of stairs from your dormitory into the common room. Fred and George brought you to the infirmary, but they sent you both here because of head trauma."

"Angelina..._oh_."

"Yeah. Oh. What were you thinking? Getting into a fight on school grounds? Aero, just because we treat you like an adult doesn't mean you have the right to do whatever you please. You know better then to engage in such a thing. Then again, while we may treat you like an adult, you're still a teenage girl, so that can't be helped. But what would possess you to behave like that?" Shane asked.

Aero refused to meet his eyes.

"I...she's been pissing me off. Thinking she's better than me, like she can steal Fred and whatever...I had to show her. _So I did_. And she got right ticked off and started shouting at me, and I shouted back and then she slapped me and...well you know the rest."

Shane stared at her for a moment.

"This...this all started over a **_boy_**?"

Aero felt her cheeks burn.

"Sod off..."

"I can't believe...you of all people...I'm never going to let you forget this you know." he said smugly.

Aero glowered up at the smirking man.

"I'm the patient, you're supposed to be nice to me." she defended lamely.

Shane let out a laugh.

"Aero got jealous! Merlin, for someone who hates emotions, you have pretty strong ones..."

"I hate you."

"Tell me, does your hair turn green when you're jealous? Do you look like a lime?"

"Bugger off, will you!"

"Or does your whole body turn green? Like a Jolly Rancher?"

"Shane Lathum, I know you are not riling up our little invalid."

Shane and Aero turned their heads to see Desarie standing there, shaking her head.

"I was doing no such thing."

"Pssh." Aero scoffed.

"You know if you lie, your nose with grow." he warned her.

"And if you turned your brain on, your IQ would too."

"Bitch..."

"Bastard."

"_Children_."

Shane stuck his tongue out at his wife playfully.

"She started it." he whined.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"You're supposed to be the adult here, Shane." Desarie sighed.

Shane grumbled something under his breath as Desarie pushed him off the bed and took his place.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

Aero shrugged, feeling a dull pain shoot up her back.

"Sore, s'pose."

"Do you need more pain potion?" Desarie asked quickly.

"No no. I'm fine."

Desarie nodded, pausing to kick Shane's shin when he muttered 'not in the head'.

"How long have I been out?"

Desarie and Shane both opened their mouths, sending a glance each other's way.

Aero looked warily between them.

"How long?" she asked again.

"Almost two weeks." a gruff voice grumbled out.

Aero turned yet again to the doorway to see Mad-eye stumbling in.

"You need to stop getting hurt, Black. You're causing a fuss."

"_Two weeks?"_ Aero exclaimed, ignoring his comment.

"Nasty bump to the head, you got there."

"**Two weeks**!" Aero cried, flopping back down on the bed before twisting her face in slight pain.

"What are yea? A bloody echo? _Almost_ two weeks, Black. Almost being the word of importance." Mad-eye growled.

"_What about Angelina_?" Aero inquired then, peeking out at him with a narrowed eye from under her arms she had thrown over her face in exasperation.

"Got out two days ago, something 'bout Quidditch..."

"She got out two days before me!"

"This isn't a competition!"

"Get me out of here." Aero demanded.

"You'll be going nowhere until the staff okay you." Mad-eye said firmly.

"I'm fine." Aero insisted.

"You're not a Healer. So shut up."

"I know how I feel!"

"I don't care how you feel!"

"Mad-eye, Aero, calm down. The infirmary is not the place to have a duel, though I suppose you _would_ be close to medical attention..." Desarie said thoughtfully.

"He really was worried about you, you know. First one here." Shane told her.

Mad-eye aimed his stick at Shane's head. _"Fudggin' **ow**, Mad-eye!" _

"Keep your trap shut."

"Stop abusing people, Mad-eye. We don't need any reports being filed." Tonks chided playfully as she stumbled into the room, tripping over the carpet lining.

"So, how's the patient?" Tonks asked.

"Impatient and stubborn as a Hippogriff's behind..." Mad-eye grumbled.

Aero glared up at him. _"Heard that..."_ she muttered.

Mad-eye rolled his good eye in her direction.

"Cheery bunch..."Tonks commented happily.

"Aren't they always?" Desarie said with a laugh.

"So. Fred stopped by yet?" Tonks asked.

"Fred?" Aero questioned at the same time Mad-eye growled "Weasley's not gettin' anywhere near her!"

"Mads!" Aero cried.

"Boys' got no clue how to have a relationship. He's a distraction anyways."

"So I'm supposed to what? Follow your Monkly ways?" Aero snipped.

Mad-eye sniffed proudly.

"I'm just focused on my work. As should you."

"Work-a-holic. I think they have groups for that..."

"He messes with your head. Your heads messed up enough for the rest of your life."

"Right then. I'll just go join the nearest _convent_."

"Well if you insist..."

"**ENOUGH**! You're winding her up, Alastor. All of you, I want you all out of this room - _not you, Aero_. Shoo, **now**." Mrs. Weasley demanded, hands on her hips, foot tapping.

Mad-eye grumbled a good-bye before hobbling out, a stumbling Tonks behind him and an apologizing Desarie dragging Shane.

Mrs. Weasley hurried into the room, looking Aero over with a flurry of hands and a fire of questions.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine, really..._honest_ I am." Aero said, a blush on her face. She still always got flustered when someone coddled her like Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, dear, I'm so glad you're not angry with me."

Aero blinked for a second.

"Why would I be angry with you?" she wondered, watching Mrs. Weasley's anxious face.

"Well dear, it's just what's going on with you and Fred, I thought...-"

"Mrs. Weasley...I'd like to believe that whatever happens between your son and me that...that doesn't change the fact your family is still...my family?" Aero asked, feeling herself blush yet again.

Mrs. Weasley was giving her a watery smile, one that matched her eyes. In an instant Aero was swallowed in a vice like hug.

"You're so sweet. And don't for a second believe you're not family, no matter what problems you and Fred have. Which, by the way, will be sorted out no problem, I'm sure."

Mrs. Weasley was standing now, suddenly calmer and more serious, though the brightness had not left her eyes. Aero, upon inspection of this sudden change in attitude, noticed just where Fred and George got their eyes. While they may be different colors, there was no doubt they were more like their mother than they realized...

"Uhm...did he tell you...?" Aero asked hesitantly.

It'd be an awkward conversation at best...

"Oh no. You know teenage boys, they don't tell their mothers anything at this stage. No, dear, but I've known you since you were just a little girl no higher than my elbow. I know you, Aero Black, whether you like it or not. I've had many a' years to watch you and my son. I saw the love story unfold before either one of you even noticed it yourselves. I've watched how you changed since you met Fred, George too. How you were the little girl closed off from the world, and watched how he unlocked your heart."

Aero stared at Mrs. Weasley who now sat on the side of her bed, smiling gently, her eyes sparkling like she knew something no one else did.

"Unlocked my heart..?" Aero said quietly.

"You know, my mother used to tell me there was only one person who could have your heart. Only one person who had that key. Others may try, others may break it, abuse it, make it cry and be the lucky few to own a small piece. But only one person in your whole life will be able to bear the whole thing. I found Arthur and that was it. He had my key, my mother could tell as soon as she saw us together, she told me. And now I'm telling you. Aero, you're like a daughter to me. You have been since Fred and George met you. So, as a surrogate mother - " Mrs. Weasley paused with another watery, warm grin.

" - I'm telling you right now. Just like my mother told me. My son, the ever-child-like, imaginative man he's grown up to be, whatever flaws he may have, is the one with the key, the only one in the world to bear your heart."

Aero turned her head, staring hard into her pillow as if it had the answers.

"I'm not asking for you to bend over backwards for him, to give up the independent woman I know you are. But I am telling you...don't shut him out. You both need each other more than you realize. Don't shut him out. So don't give yourself up to be with him. That's not love. It's give and take. It's taking the road despite the bumps and occassional suprise pot-holes. It's compromising, meeting each other half-way. He has your key Aero, you're never going to find another one."

Mrs. Weasley patted her knee affectionately and stood, quietly leaving the room. Aero was silent for a moment, contemplating.

* * *

Mrs. Weasley stood outside the ward door. She placed a hand over her heart as she looked at it, as if seeing through it to the young girl inside. She remembered the day she had brought Arthur, among other friends, home during the summer holidays. Her mother had pulled her into the kitchen and said she better hold onto him, because that boy was special and he had her key. She had had the same look Aero had on her face when Gwendolyn Prewett, Merlin bless her soul, told her she expected lots of grandkids. Molly Weasley smiled fondly at the memory. Her mother would've loved to have seen Fred and Aero; they truly were a part of the fairytale romances she always read to Molly as a child.

No matter what Molly thought about her sons' careers choices, her son had done right by finding that girl. She knew Fred had saved Aero from herself, without even realizing it. She just hoped they'd get back together soon. She couldn't wait for a wedding. But she saw a lot of herself in that girl, more so in Ginny or Hermione, but the same self-reliant, never back down fire stirred fiercly within that girl too, and whatever wrong her son had committed, they'd be back together, the question was how long would Aero make him beg?

Molly walked down the corridor and looked down into the enxt one as she rounded the corner. She paused in her step, watching curiously as Tonks took a determined step closer to Remus who looked flustered to say the least. Remus shook his head, his mouth moving a mile a minute, no doubt stuttering over his words as Tonks stepped even closer, manuvering so his back was forced against the wall. Tonks tilted her head, as if in a question, and raised her eyebrow, something Molly noticed she and her cousin had in common.

Molly's own mouth opened as she watched the little Tonks step up onto her toes and and fall against Remus' taller form slightly and give a chaste peck on the lips. Her hair flashed a brilliant pink, blushing from head to toe and stepped back, giving him a large smile before walking quickly away, a slight skip in her step, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of Molly before continuing on.

Remus was leaning against the wall, his eyes wide and staring, his lips parted, a red tint to his face.

"Alright, Remus dear?" Molly called cheekily.

Remus jumped and cleared his throat several times, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Uhm, yes, quiet alright Molly, thank you...I'm just gonna...go...I'll ehm, stop by later then..." Remus said quickly, giving her a gentlemanly nod and walking quickly towards the exit Tonks had just entered.

Molly felt a smile light her face again. Romance certainly was in the air, wasn't it?

"Evening, Molly."

Molly turned around and her eyes landed on a thinner, paler looking Ebony Stict. She looked like she had tried to cover up several bruises along her neck. Her eyes seemed a bit manic now, unusual from their calm appearance, and more like how she used to be, like how she'd see her in the Prophet way back then...

"Evening, Ebony." Molly said slowly, cautiously.

Ebony gave her a jerky nod and turned to go down the hall, as if to go to Aero's room...her goddaughter's.

"You freeze right there, you _traitorous bitch_." Molly snapped.

* * *

George walked into the room, knocking lightly on the doorframe. Aero snapped her eyes open and started when she saw red hair blue eyes and sighed in relief when she recognized the slightly different looking George. She didn't think she could handle Fred, not after her move in class and then having him know she reacted so childishly with Angelina over him. It was just the thing she didn't want, his ego to enflate even more. And she _definately_ didn't want to be the one to cave when she was the one who hadn't done the wrong this time...

"George. What a pleasant suprise. I wasn't aware students were allowed to come down." Aero said.

George shrugged.

"You forget who I am, Ms. Black. I am the famous, ever-charming, better looking twin, they call George Weasley." he said smugly.

Aero rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"Oh how silly of me. How could I forget?" she teased.

George broke out into a grin and dumped himself unceromoniously onto the foot of her bed.

"So, hows life treating you?" he asked conversationally.

Aero looked at him for a second before they both smiled.

"Hows Umbridge been since I left?" she asked.

"Eh, same old. Still a hag from hell. It'll make you proud to know that Lee, Fred and I have caused quite a bit of mischief in your absensce." he said with a grin.

"Oh? How so?"

"Nifflers in the office. Gave Filch a sweet. He hasn't been able to sit down in about four days now."

Aero laughed and George grinned wider. She'd been so melancholy ever time he'd seen her lately. It was good to see his friend laugh again.

Aero just shook her head.

"Did you get in trouble?"

George shrugged again.

"What's a few detentions?"

"To your mother? The end of your lives." Aero replied.

George nodded then, looking slightly distraught at his impending doom. He shrugged it off and put a smile back on his face. That was one of the things about the twins, Aero acknowledged, they looked off without smiles on their faces. She tried to remember the last time she saw Fred smile.

"Ah well. She was bound to shout for some reason. Better we earned it then not."

"I don't know how she handles having you two for sons." Aero sighed.

"We make her life fun. Exciting. Colorful. Keeps her on her toes and feeling young." He said happily.

"And exhausted. And exasperated. Frustrated. _Paranoid_." Aero added cheekily.

George scowled playfully at her.

"Alright. I'll give you that one." he said.

Aero just shook her head, smiling. Honestly, she wouldn't know what to do if she ever had a kid, especially twins, like Fred and George. Well, she reasoned, she wouldn't know what to do it she had a kid period. She'd probably have heart failure and go to an early grave. Or screw the kid up so bad they'd be damaged for life. She suddenly had a new respect for Mrs. Weasley.

"So...no doubt Fred will come by...when he finds the balls, at least. You kind of...killed all brain function with that stunt in class, you know. I couldn't get him to talk for an hour. Took two for a complete sentence. I thought Lee was going to dunk his head in the toilet." George said.

Aero felt the smile on her face slide off.

"Oh c'mon! Don't look like that!" George pleaded.

"Like what?" she asked.

Aero briefly wondered if she'd have to endure another insightful lecture about her and Fred. She didn't think she could take another one. Mrs. Weasley's made her want to go crawling back to Fred or run and hide in a corner with protective enchantments set up around her 'unlocked heart'.

"I'm just...I was wondering...I wanted to ask before he got here...if we're still on?" he asked quietly, eyeing the groaning older patient at the far side of the room.

"Well, to be honest I feel like I've lost momentum for it...but I can't just let what he did slide." she murmured.

"I agree, I can't let what Angie did go without consequence. They lied by omission. But are we still doing it?" he wondered.

"Do you still want to?" she asked.

George looked thoughtful. A little guilt displayed across his face and Aero felt the same thing in her chest, that heavy feeling. She didn't like hurting Fred, apparrently no more than George did. But what they had done was wrong, and a betrayal of the highest, or second highest nature, considering they didn't go through with shagging each other senseless.

"I think...I think we need to teach them both how it feels. I mean...I'd never want to hurt them, but...there are consequences for their lies."George said a little more confidently.

Aero nodded now, new resolve taking over.

"So...how should we do this exactly?" he asked.

"Uhm...well we'd obviously wait for the right moment, and then lead them to a room we'll be in, and they'll find us in a compromising situation, I suppose." she said.

George nodded.

"Do we have to kiss?" he asked.

Aero blanched.

"Well, I suppose since they..you know..."

George grinned, not shy about the situation at all.

"It'll be just like at the Yule Ball." he told her.

Aero nodded, feeling a little less nervous about kissing her key-holder's twin.

"Should we...?" George asked.

"Oh! Uhm...Y-yeah..." she said, a blush on her cheeks.

George's cheeks tinted, his freckles standing out against his blush as he leaned forward, tilting his head. Aero bit her lip in hesitation before leaning forward to meet him, her head tilted the other way. She lifted her hand to cradle his chin to keep him steady when she noticed him shake slightly, and his in turn calmed her own by placing a hand at her waist, hoping in vain to stop her trembling.

His lips brushed hers, and Aero concealed her shiver. His lips were slightly rougher than Fred's, but his kiss was gentler, not as passionate, or possessive like Fred's which was a good thing, and he smelled more of mint and chocolate, no doubt he had stopped by the food court on the way up here. But he had the same musky scent of cut grass from the field and light cologne that was just a touch different than his twin's.

He pressed his against hers more, turning his head ever so slightly, and his fingers on her waist twitched, and Aero's trembling increased. They pulled back and Aero opened her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye she could've sworn she saw something purple but brushed it off, concentrating on the fact that she had just kissed her friend, however innocent her intentions with him were.

"Now I see the appeal." George said with a shaky laugh.

Aero grinned weakly.

"Not such a bad kisser, George."

"Well, I have received quite high praise." he said proudly, striking a 'dignified' pose.

Aero sniggered.

"From who? Your hand?" she teased.

George placed a hand on his heart in mock offence.

"You wound me!" he cried.

Aero laughed again.

"You have an ego as big as your twin's." she told him.

"Ouch. Just ouch. The hits keep on coming."

"You're **such** a drama queen."

"_King_, darling, _king_."

* * *

The soft sounds of boots made their way from the door, the cloud of purple haze wafting away in the air. Heels clicked beside him, a little more hurried to keep up with the long strides.

She still wore her school uniform, and her charm bracelet clinked as she grabbed his hand.

"Did you get a good shot?" she asked, none too quietly.

He suddenly rouchly shook her hand away and stopped walking, turning to face her. Her wrist flung away, bracelet clinking, the silver snake with the emerald green eyes bouncing away. She watched it with sad eyes and missed where it landed, before turning to look up at him.

"Oh _darling_, I didn't mean to upset you. I won't ask questions again, I swear." she said softly, clutching his large hand within her own.

Her perfectly well done manicured nails played with the cuffs of his expensive red shirt that led up to his black suit jacket.

The scowl on his face softened, though she didn't see the insincerity in his gaze.

"My apologies. Thanks to your invormation, I have got the perfect evidence. Aerovanna is done vor." he grinned, linking their hands together again.


	28. Chapter 28 spontanteous shagapalooza

**One free question, in complete honesty, about the future of PH if someone can guess which Harry Potter character has the same first name as me. **

**P.S. FRERO fans are going to LOVE this chapter ( I hope) **

**And I apologize for not updating sooner. I just wasn't feeling it for this story then. **

* * *

Her head was pounding. It was incessant, thumping madly in her ears, making it difficult to focus on anything long. Apparrently she had been on lots of potions, one of which kept her unconcious to help heal her concussion. Angelina hadn't been in much better shape, granted the bitch landed on her, but still. At least she had the okay to play in the Quidditch match.

Instead of flying on her broom, high in the air, chucking Bludgers at unsuspecting Slytherins, she was watching Ginny do it. Ginny wasn't a Beater, more the build of a Seeker or Chaser, but she did a right decent job. Especially when she whacked a good one at Goyle. Slytherin must have been slipping if they let Crabbe and Goyle slither onto the team. She had once doubted the two morons actually knew how to make a broom _fly_.

Aero watched intently as Ron let a Quaffle in. She stamped her foot in frustration, along with Neville, on the boards below her. Ron was a Weasley, and while some (_Slytherins_) could say Weasleys didn't have much, they could not entirely deny they came from a good run of players. Charlie was the best of them. Bill wasn't bad at all. Fred and George were obviously amazing Beaters, Ginny had some skill and potential. Even Percy had been spied working a Quaffle. Now Ron...Harry had told her, when she'd gotten back, that he was alright, when they were alone.

Aero felt a twinge of sympathy for the kid. He was the youngest of the boys. Everyone brought something to the table, so to speak, and Ron apparrently, according to Ginny, thought he didn't. Aero had watched the kid through the years, and noticed how much he differed from his siblings. They were loud, confident. They all knew what they wanted, who they were. Ron was a little more self-concious, a little on the shyer side. How he ended up like that she hadn't the foggiest fuck. But still. She could see potential in him, even from here, even when he let the Quaffle in. He was agile, his face was intent and concentrated, his eyes followed every movement of the Quaffle. It was the crowd that unsettled him. Ron had never gotten much attention, she supposed, so getting all this attention, especially the bad from the Slytherins, must be unnerving. His face was scarlet.

She cringed as another Quaffle got in. And that song...that song was horrid. How anyone could be so harsh and malicious like that, as to sing a song so confidence crumbling, was beyond her. She reminded herself they were Slytherins, but still...this was a new low.

_"Alright Ron! It's alright!"_ she heard Angelina shout, no doubt noticing the younger boy's distress.

Aero found herself wanting to knock a Bludger into every Slytherin who came within hearing distance of the younger Weasley. He wasn't ready for such a crowd, especially facing Slytherin. That was something you had to work up to, the attention and expectations. Perhaps if he faced Hufflepuff instead, he'd have a better time adjusting to it all, but when you have sneering people throwing things your way and a song like Weasley Is Our King being directed soley at you it's not the best way to come into your own as a player.

She saw Harry frantically searching for the Snitch. Fred and George sped past, their faces flushed and angry. George launched a particularly nasty shot at Crabbe, who got slammed in the shoulder. No matter what the twins may have said, they were the most loyal people she knew, so hearing people purposefully taunting one of their own, who they tended to be protective about anyways because they too had noticed his less confident ways, was putting them in quite the identical foul moods.

And then in the blink of an eye Draco and Harry were flying past, going down for the snitch, and all of Gryffindor was on their feet, cheering and encouraging, praying for the saving grace that was their Seeker.

And then it was over. And Harry caught the snitch and Aero couldn't help but grin when Neville cheered ecstatically -

Harry fell onto the ground and Hooch blasted past them at the Slytherins and Gryffindor roared its outrage, the Slytherin students leering and jesting. Crabbe had angrily launched a Bludger right into Harry's back.

Aero and Neville followed the crowd, elbowing their way through, bumping into an idly standing blonde girl with..._a lions head_, and ran onto the pitch. Aero was by his side in a minute, both her and Angelina assissting him up.

"You did it, we won!" Angelina said with a proud grin.

"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you? I've never seen a worse Keeper...but then he was _born in a bin_...Did you like my lyrics, Potter?" Draco said suddenly, staring at him furiously.

Aero had a sense of foreboding in her chest. Draco was always one to throw nasty tantrums when he didn't get his way...

"Draco..." Aero warned.

Harry merely turned away, torwards their team.

"We wanted to write another couple of verses! But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly - we wanted to sing about his mother, see -"

"Talk about sour grapes," Angelina said, casting a venomous glance at the blonde.

"**Draco**. Drop it. _Now_." Aero demanded, staring at her cousin, hard.

Fred and George had stiffened, zeroing in on Malfoy. Just a second before Aero had been making her way to Fred, but had stopped as well to focus on her childish cousin.

"Leave it-" Angelina began, striding forward to grip Fred's arm.

Aero roughly elbowed her, sending her a glare and standing in front of the twins.

"Fred, let him yell, he's just lost..." Aero murmured.

She half-hoped Fred and George would pummel him, but then again Draco was family, so...

"But you like the Weasleys, don't you Potter? Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink -" Draco sneered

_"Draco. Enough!"_ Aero shouted at him.

" - I'm not saying anything, _cousin_. You'd know all about the stink, wouldn't you? Shacking up there, mingling with them. Right, Potter? Although, I suppose being brought up by muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells okay-"

Fred had taken a step forward and Aero forced him back with a hand on his chest, though he didn't spare her a glance, his eyes glued to Draco who continued mouting off. Lee had come down some time and now he and Katie stood in front of George like a wall. But when Draco finished that sentece, Fred and forced his way forward, making Aero shove him back. A fight, with everything going on with Umbridge, was not an option. Fred and George would get horrible detentions, Merlin knows what else, and Aero couldn't accept that. She wasn't about to allow them to be carved into because Draco had bad grace.

"Or perhaps, you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it -"

And the dung had hit the fan. Harry, who had been holding George, broke through the guard of katie and Lee, George on his heels, both barreling towards Draco, Fred struggling, cursing and shouting, kicking and hitting, to get free. Aero leaned against his chest, her head turned to look at her cousin and the other two, Katie and Alicia helping her hold Fred back.

Harry and George descended on the Slytherin, punching, hitting, kicking, angrily and furiously attacking him and Aero couldn't muster up a single ounce of sympathy as she kicked Fred's legs out from under him, landing on top, pinning him to the ground. Her hands braced his shoulders, using her weight to help force him down somewhat as he struggled.

And then Harry tumbled past her, knocked off his feet by Hooch.

She screamed at them as Draco moaned from the ground, his team surrounding him. George and Harry stalked off the grounds, heading towards McG's room. She's scream til her throat was raw and stick their heads in the trophies before she had them spit-shine them clean.

Aero glanced down, exhausted, at Fred. He was flushed an angry red, his eyes darker then usual, his fists clenched. His eyes met hers furiously. Aero, furious herself with how stupid the human race was, glared down at him.

"_You idiot_." she muttered under her breath with a scowl.

Fred tossed her off, landing ontop, staring her down. She lay on her grass underneath him as his arms held him up, her arms crossed over her chest, staring up at him impassively.

"_Don't. Control. Me."_ he bit out.

_"If you didn't act like a caged animal I wouldn't **have** to."_ she replied back just as hotly.

"Did you hear him -"

"I'm not deaf, Fred."

**"So it's alright with you?"** he thundered.

"You _are_ an idiot." she said, rolling her eyes, shaking her head.

She brought her knees up, curling in and placed her feet on his chest before she tossed him up over her head, Fred grabbing her slim wrists in his hands and brought them down so he was flat on the grass and she was above again.

_"I never said I approved of what my cousin did. Just that you shouldn't let him provoke you."_ she snapped.

Fred grunted and tipped them over, hovering above her again as she fell under him with a thud.

**"You heard what he said."** he replied icily.

Aero rolled her eyes, blowing a piece of hair out of her mouth.

"Will you stop biting my head off? I'm only looking out for you!" she exclaimed, tipping him back.

"I don't need you to look out for me!" he shouted back, looking up at her.

"Obviously, you do. Did you forget Umbridge was here?"

Fred pushed her backwards, making her fall back on her backside. Now he had his knees in between hers and hovered over her.

"I don't _care_ about _Umbridge_."

_"That's exactly why you can't be in the Order."_ she whispered harshly.

Fred glowered down at her. He was angry. Her head was pounding. Both their hearts were racing.

"You don't need to look out for me." he said quietly, finally.

Aero, eyes still hard and serious, replied "Yes I do. Because when you care, it's what you have to do."

He stared hard at her.

_"You have grass in your hair."_ A crooked smile.

Aero rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed, despite the quivering in the corner of her lips.

* * *

"Unbelievable!" Angelina shouted, slamming the dorm door violently.

Alicia gave a squeak of suprise and Katie jumped awake, startled and confused as to why her nap was interrupted. Aero glanced up curiously from where she was refilling her drink with some Whiskey.

"Something the matter?" she asked casually.

"Everything! Everything is wrong. You're out on Medical leave, the twins and Harry have been kicked off the team! -" Angelina cried, throwing a book off her bed and sending it across the room.

Aero perked up at hearing this information. So McGonagall had kicked them off? That seemed unlikely, it was just a fight...

"McGonagall did? That's a suprise..." Alicia said.

"Of course McGonagall didn't. That blasted, hairy troll in pink cloth with all the deceitfullness of a viper and hunger of a vulture did! That terrible old hag from hell! Evil incarnate! She did it!" Angelina shouted.

"What a vocabulary..." Katie muttered with amusement.

"But Fred wasn't even fighting! And they did it within provocation!" Alicia protested.

"Doesn't matter! They're off!" Angelina wailed, as if in agony which Aero assumed she was, and felt onto the bed, appearring to be attempting suffocation with her pillow.

Aero frowned. Harry and the twins would be wrecks. They lived for Quidditch. And this only strengthened their resolves to attack Umbridge. But Umbridge wasn't one to be taken lightly...

Aero wanted nothing more than to cheer Fred up. She sighed and walked towards her trunk, rumagging around in it briefly, pulling out a wadded ball of clothes and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door. _Umbridge certainly was a troublesome woman_...

* * *

_Back your border when she knows someone crossed it, Don't let nobody put you down, who you with, take the pain of protecting your name from the crutch to the cane to high wire. I'm in love with a girl who knows me better. Fell for teh woman just when I met her! Someone understands! Wants to make love when I wanna fight, now someone understands! _

**Gavin DeGraw** - I'm in love with a girl

* * *

Fred was seething. He was practically seeing red. How dare that bitch kick him off the team! Who did she think he was? He was Fred Weasley, damn it, he wasn't just going to sit back and take her bullocks. No, he'd get her back. She'd have to be told who she was messing with. Coming in here, unnanounced, dethrowning Dumbledore, investigating his girlfriend (he wasn't going to stop calling her that), carving into hands of his fellow students. It was unacceptable behavior.

George was sulking in the common room with Lee, Ron was nowhere to be found, Ginny was venting up in her room and Aero was currently M.I.A. He stomped up to his dorm room, pushing the door open and shutting it so hard behind him the frame shook. He kicked wildly at a box of ingredients on the floor and sharply turned his head up as he took a step forward and - ...froze mid-step.

It was a sight he had feared he'd never see again. Just the shock of seeing such a thing ruled over his anger and frustration. For a moment he forgot about needing to vent. He stood there, his mouth partly opened.

She was there, like something he generally had to imagine up at night or in the morning to relieve himself. Her small frame, the one that curled perfectly into his own, was crouched on his bed atop his scarlet covers, her hair was styled as if his own hands had just ran through it, her gray eyes practically smoking as she looked steadily at him. Her toned legs were bare, curled out before her, leading up to his red hand-knit sweater with his letter F sewn in. She was in his sweater, so big on her that the sleeves swallowed her dainty little fingers whole, a shoulder left sufficiently bare.

"Keep staring, I might do a trick." she said, slightly amused.

"Promise?"

She smirked at him, the corner of one side of her lips twitching up. Fred's feet moved automatically, rushing towards the bed, kicking his shoes off in the process and landing on his knees on the mattress. Aero cocked her head to the side, her nimble fingers moving over his knee, further up his thigh, leveling with his groin. Fred supressed a shudder of excitment and blatant shock.

She looked coyly up at him through her thick, long black lashes, biting her bottom lip and Fred swallowed hard, watching her movements.

"You've had a rough day." she cooed soothingly.

Fred nodded quickly.

"You've got a lot of pent up engery, anger, fire. Don't you?" she continued in the same, innocent tone.

"Y-yeah." he stuttered, feeling her warm fingers curl into the top of his pants. He blood suddenly pooled in his groin and his jeans felt uncomfortably tight.

"I wonder if a good shag would...release you?" she asked, looking up to meet his hazed gaze.

Fred opened his mouth to reply and found his voice was stuck in his throat. He swallowed and nodded his head carefully.

"I _suppose_ it couldn't..._hurt_." he murmured finally.

Aero grinned at him before swiftly moving to streddle his lap. He blinked in shock of the movement and then her mouth was covering his, her hands twisting in his hair. He shut his eyes and his hands moved to her back. He cupped her butt and pulled her closer, completely aware of the buldge in his jeans. And then she lowered herself and his hands were slipped under the sweater, grazing her unblemished skin.

He groaned when he felt her press on his cock, his hip lifting slightly. He let himself fall backwards to lie on the bed. She sat above him, her hands resting on his shoulders, a gleam in her eyes. She reached a hand out to his pillow and came back with her wand, flicking it casually as she ground down on him again, balancing with one hand on his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat as his hips moved to try and gain move friction as she cast a locking and silencing charm on the room.

She threw her wand to the floor and ground herself into him again and his eyes rolled slightly, his hands gripping her small waist covered by his sweater. He moved them and his hands started sneaking up her thighs, under the sweater and when no resistent cloth became apparrent, his heart stopped, his breath hitched and his dick twitched. _She wasn't wearing anything underneath his sweater_...

She gave him a knowing smirk and reached down for his wrists, taking them and throwing them above his head, intertwining their fingers together and leaned down, capturing his mouth with hers in a searing kiss that sucked any remaing air from his lungs. He panted hotly when she let him breath, her mouth moving down over his exposed throat, nipping roughly at his skin.

His hands twitched, aching to touch her, and she lifted her head to stare at his half-lidded eyes. She quickly bent down over the bed and returned not a second later with her wand. She tapped his wrists and he looked up when something coarse rubbed against his struggling limbs. She had tied him to the bed posts...

"Well this seems oddly familiar..." he said with amusement.

She shrugged, smirking.

"Felt like reminising a bit." she replied.

Fred gave her an appraising look and she smirked wider. She crossed her arms across herself and lifted the hem of the sweater, pulling her crisscrossed arms over her head and removing the only article of clothing she wore. Fred ran his eyes over her. Her frame, so small, with its defined muscles from Quidditch. _Thank-you_, he thought, as he stared at her toned stomach, the belly-button ring glinting up at him.

"Anything else pierced that I should know about?" he asked hopefully.

She tossed her head to the side, her hair falling over one shoulder and shook her head.

"Only in your dreams, dear." she told him.

"_Always_."

She ducked down and bit his lower lip between her teeth, and when he parted his mouth in surprise the pushed the lips together, slipping her tongue inside. Fred's eyes widened and then he shifted his head for a better angle. He jumped when her hips rocked into his again, her bare body working wonders on his painfully clothing-clad one.

"**Fuck**" he hissed.

His hips bucked excitedly and Aero met every one, grinding herself diligently against him.

"Aero..." he whined.

She rolled her eyes playfully before poking her fingers through the middle section of his shirt, the small gap between the buttons, and yanked, sending buttons poping. She spread the shirt wide and scraped her nails down his torso, his muscles clenching as she ran over them. Fred could feel sweat building on his stomache as she sat above him. He had never told her, for fear of risking his manly pride, but he had always loved the fact that she could be the dominant partner and let him be one as well. The fact she could be whatever position was hot.

She bent down and nipped at his collarbone, her tongue sliding in the dip and drawing a shuddering breath from the man below her. She moved lower, biting teasingly at a nipple before hooking her fingers between his skin and his jeans. She gave a tug and moved to pull them, and his briefs, down. She kicked them off for him, and looked down at his face.

Fred could feel his face flushed, his heart pounding and he felt like he couldn't get enough air in his lungs. He struggled uselessly with the ropes holding back his hands. He just wanted to _touch_ her...

She moved a hand down, fingers trailing lightly against his stomach and causing goosebumps, until he gave a loud groan, his neck pushing backwards into the pillows, his hands fisting and unfisting in the air when her small hand wrapped around his pulsing prick. His hips raised demandingly, urging her for more.

"You are quite impatient today. I knew you were frustrated." she murmured.

She rad the pad of her thumb over the tip and Fred cursed, not even trying to hide any sounds.

She watched his face with the utmost attention, watching his reactions. He hadn't been the only frustrated one lately. But it seems they both found a way to vent...

She was pumping him diligently, listening to him, her own face flushed and heart pounding. He was twitching and writhing beneath her, his head tossed back, eyes closed, mouth parted. Sweat beaded on his skin, almost making him seem to shine.

"_**Shit**_." he grunted before something hot dripped onto her hand, down onto his legs and the covers beneath them.

Aero sat back on his legs and waved her wand, cleaning the white off them both as Fred struggled to catch his breath. His head was turned to the side, resting on his shoulder, and cracked an eye open to glance at her through a glassy gaze.

"Whatever was that for?" he asked breathlessly.

Aero shrugged.

"You seemed a bit high strung. You needed a release. And I would prefer it not be on Umbridge which would result in you carving into your own hand for an hour. I mean, if you wanted to be hurt, you could've come to me, I wouldn't mind whacking yo uaround a bit." she said casually, examining her nails.

Fred raised his eyebrows.

"You want to beat me up, which I have no doubt you could and would dear, but yet you settle for wanking me off?" he wondered, sounding half amused half skeptical.

Aero glanced away from her nails for a moment, a subtle look of surprise on her face, as if he was missing something obvious.

"We're simply doing our fellow human beings a service, Freds." she said.

"Whaaat?"

Aero gave a huff and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"We're both extremely stressed out. DO you think we're good people when we're stressed out?" she asked him.

Fred frowned.

"You can be a bit of a bitch." he relented.

Aero momentarily frowned at him. "You're no prince charming yourself."

"But that's what I mean. We needed a stress reliever. Well, we've found it."

"Ah, so we wank each other everytime we get stressed out?" he asked.

Aero smirked then, leaning down over his face, their lips inches apart.

"Wanking is only part of it, love. I'm going to screw you into this very mattress so bad you won't be able to walk for a week." she told him quietly.

She felt Fred twitch under her again and something against her inner thigh. She raised her eyebrow and stared at him with a look of dark amusement.

Fred watched her expectantly, she leaned back up into a sitting position, moving her hand to run a fingernail gently across his slit, making him stop a cry in his throat, him to harden even further and then she positioned herself, hovering above him. Their eyes met and she seemed to let herself go, as if falling, and he sank inside her, fully sheethed, and they both moaned in approval.

She ground her hips, rotating around, and Fred clenched his eyes tightly, hands fisting and unfisting, veins becoming visible in his strained arms. His hips launched up suddenly and Aero gave a cry before moving up on her own and they created a rythem, meeting each other desperate thrust for desperate thrust. Her hands braced on his shoulders, her smaller form trembling as they moved, their bodies slamming together mixed with the sounds of their heavy breathing filled the room. She felt sweat form on her own body, further lubricating them and they moved faster.

Fred felt her nails dig painfully into his shoulders but he barely realized. He felt her clench and groaned himself, bucking wildly beneath her. His eyes opened and then hers, their eyes connecting as they both gave an earth shaking shudder, practically synchronized, and Fred heard his name tumble off her lips and hers grunted from his.

Aero gave a heavy sigh of content and fell to the side, her face pressed against the side of his chest, both trying to regain control of their bodies. Fred actually wondered, during times like these, if when they were all alone like this, when they were both losing themselves to each other, if it was the only time she actually lost control of _herself_.

"Aer?" he asked softly.

"Mhm?"

"Can you untie me? Unless you want me to be cut in half by these marvelous ropes you conjured up."

Aero peeked up and smiled at him, gave a quiet laugh and picked up her wand, flicking it and his arms fell above his head with a sigh from him.

"You're not tired yet, are you?" she asked.

Fred opened his eyes and stared at her, mouth parting silently.

"You mean...again?" he wondered.

"Yes." she said simply.

She sat up on her knees, in all her glory, and looked at him questioningly. Fred stared at her for a moment before his eyes fell on her form again and he felt his whole body flushing excitedly before he launched himself at her, Aero giving a squeak of surprise before she was under him now, and Fred parted her legs impatiently, a smile on his face and braced his hands on either side of her head.

"We're not _nearly_ done." he stated before he pushed himself in and Aero arched off the bed, moaning.

Fred pulled almost all the way out before pushing quickly back in, as far as he could, and then out again. Aero was flushed beneath him, her eyes closed and back arched. He liked these times, when he was the controlling one, and he could finally see the power he had over her instead of the other way around...not that he complained then.

"**Fred**.." she moaned, biting her lip.

Fred quickly bent down, biting the same lip and pulling it into his mouth before soothingly running his tongue over it, and engaged her in a heated kiss as he slammed into her again. She met him thrust for thrust, both moaning into each other's mouths, gripping at each other helplessly.

Fred felt his spring tightening and quickened his pace to almost frantic. Aero, not being able to keep rythem, wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning loudly again. Her arms circled around his neck and her nails scraped along his back, drawing drops of blood, but Fred just groaned into her mouth in response.

"Shit! Aero!" he said, giving a cry, their eyes locking yet again as their mouths parted ways, and Aero reciprocated, crying out his own name and throwing her head back afterwards, arching against him.

Fred fell to the bed, Aero underneath him, and they waited a moment, her hands tangled in his hair, their hearts beating against their chests, so loud and fast they could feel the other's.

Aero untangled her legs from his waist and bent her knees on either side of him.

They shared a look and Aero gave a sound again as he twiched inside her with a wicked grin.

* * *

Something bright was in her face and she scruntched her nose in contempt. She lifted one eyelid up a bit and peeked out into the room which was clearly not hers. Something heavy was draped across her hip. She glared accussingly at the sun the shone threw the window.

She rolled slightly, looking behind her, so see Fred, bare of any the blankets she had used to cover herself. His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, curling underneath her. Their feet were tangled together, his hair resembling what Tonks had explained to her was "sex hair".

His chest lifted evenly with his breath, his eyes flickering under his lids as he dreamed. His shoulders had broadened even more it seemed, thanks to Quidditch. His arms even more defined with some tan lines. Freckles dotted his skin, dusting his nose. He had the slightest impression of back-dimples.

Her stomach growled suddenly and she remembered. She bent over to her skirt pocket, which she had slipped out of before he came into the room, and retrieved her 'morning after' potion. She stuck her tongue out in distaste as the strong tasting liqued was swallowed. She put the bottle back and ran a hand through her tangled hair. She attempted to move but Fred's arm became vice like.

She narrowed her eyes at him but settled in with a huff and criss-crossed her legs as the sheet pooled around her waist now and she attempted to just sit there and diligently untangle her hair, strand by strand.

When it became apparrent he wasn't waking up anytime soon and her hair was a mess and she smelled of sweat and sex, she carefully lifted his arm, quickly replacing herself with a pillow, and grabbed a shirt from his trunk before padding into the bathroom.

* * *

Fred slowly opened his eyes, yawning. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked searching beside him. He could've sworn she had been there...but now there was just a pillow. A spark of panic jolted through him and he launched from the bed, hurriedly putting his clothes on, struggling with his pants as he hopped around. She had left, she had been there and then left. They had made progress! They were moving forward. She probably got nervous and left while he was sleeping this morning. He just had to find her and -

The bathroom door opened and some steam floated to the ceiling and he froze as Aero leaned against the doorframe, her ankles crossed casually as were her arms across her chest. She had one brow raised in amusement and a small smirk on her face as she watched him, wearing one of his button down blue shirts, clearly just coming from the shower.

Fred looked down and noticed how silly he looked, hopping around. He cleared his throat and finally pulled his pants on, blushing slightly.

" Good morning." he greeted gruffly.

" Indeed it is." she replied, simply watching him, enjoying his obvious discomfort.

When he didn't say anything for fear of saying something further embarrassing she spoke.

"Care to explain the reason behind my morning show?" she asked curiously.

"Uh, well, you see...you were there...and then you weren't...and I sort of...well..." he stumbled, rubbing the back of his neck with a tiny, bashful smile.

"Uh..._huh_. Well, " she said slowly, a smile tugging at her lips, "I'm _not_ gone, I'm _here_, and your pants are on backwards."

Fred blanked and looked down ever-so-slowly at himself. _Indeed_, they were not on the way man intended them to be. Huh.

"It seems they are." he agreed thoughtfully, still examing himself.

Aero shook her head slightly in amusement, leaning it against the doorframe as she watched him right himself, mumbling something like _'how in Merlin's bullocks did I manage this...?'_


	29. Chapter 29 All is not right

**Sorry 'bout being so late. Ready for the excuses? I: was studying for my drivers test, which I passed. I was out all day at a Bridal shower. I've been partaking in finals. I get out Tuesday, so I'll be updating faster with longer chapters. And then of course, I had to watch Bruins games. **_(I don't want any hockey wars going on in my review box because I said that!)_

**And no. No one guessed my name. It is not: **

**Luna. **

**Alicia. **

**Katie. **

**Hermione. And no. It's not Ginny, Nymphadora or Minerva either. But good guesses. Try again ;) **

**Also...are you guys going to keep reading if it goes up to like, 93 chapters like Family Honor? I'm not saying it will but, to finish the books in this story (Because I'm not separating it like I did with FH), it's going to take quite a few chapters. And if not, I'll be cutting it off, like, not finishing to DH, or even HBP. I'm honestly wondering...**

* * *

Aero found herself contemplating everything. Every choice she made, every word she said, every move she made. Everything suddenly was whirling in her mind, and she found herself wondering where exactly she wanted her life to take her. Was she going to get married? Was she going to continue living with Sirius or find a house herself? Was she going to keep being an Auror? What did she really feel about her family, Draco? Was she going to continue with her scheme with George? Did she truly want to put herself through another relationship with Fred?

She thought over and over, running through every possibility she could imagine about the future. She lay in the bed still, Fred tangled up with her, breathing evenly as he dozed. She pulled the sheet up over her chest again when it slipped. She had to admit to herself that she hadn't know where she was going or what she was doing for awhile. It was something she wasn't comfortable knowing. Most of her life had been about knowing what she did before she did it, about controlling herself and any situation she was in. But lately, everything just felt like it was sand slipping through her fingers.

Or, that wasn't exactly true. If she really thought about it, her life had slowly but steadily slipped away from her control since she came to Hogwarts. Before she had never dealt with emotions further than being impassive. She never had to worry about someone else. She had barely worried about herself. She had had no purpose. She knew that. That she had just been going through the motions, unknowingly searching for something to make her feel alive.

And then that day on the train, that was the day that everything changed. She had had no idea that allowing those two goofy looking gingers into her compartment would forever seal her fate. From that day she was linked to them, and everything that came with them. They had made her realize it wasn't bad to laugh, it wasn't a crime to smile and it wouldn't kill her to be happy. Through them she had been able to become friends with Angelina and her roommates. She had gone out for the team. She had slowly found a purpose in Fred. And then Harry had come along, and Neville and suddenly she found herself bombarded with emotions, panic and worry and courage. They made her realize, they were the very reasons she was in Gryffindor, they were her strength, the people she'd give anything for. And then she had changed so completely, felt more human, to the point if she looked back at herself now she wouldn't even recognize herself. But with the prize of living, she had gained the consequences of heartbreak, pain, betrayal and fear. She had allowed herself to love, despite the fact she knew nothing about it, that she had no idea what to do with it, she took that leap into the unknown future for Fred. And he had to easily broke her. It was unnerving to find that one person could deal her so much damage without realizing, without even really thinking about it.

Aero sighed and stared hard at the ceiling. Did she want to go through that again? Did she want to risk the cripling pain she had felt before? Who was to say Fred wouldn't hurt her again, as he had in the past? Could she truly trust him with her heart again? And even if she did, did that mean he got off about him and Angelina, that he didn't face any consequences for his actions? Saying sorry, feeling guilty, they weren't enough. They didn't make him feel the pain she did. But did she wish that pain on someone else? Did she want to purposefully give him that pain, hurt him and break him, when she knew, she knew, in the back of her mind, he hadn't done it to her intentionally?

"You look awfully lost in thought."

She turned her head on the pillow to face him, his eyes were open and watching her curiously.

"I'm just thinking is all."

"You don't regret anything, do you?" he wondered quietly.

Aero was silent for a moment, pondering his question and her answer. She looked up and found his face carefully blank, as if he expected a rejection.

"I have many regrets in my life, Fred Weasley. But I can now honestly say, you are not one of them."

Fred gave her a small smile and leaned forward and gave her a closed-mouth kiss, chaste and sweet.

"Good. I don't regret you either...but what happens now?" he asked.

Aero took a breath.

"You're asking the wrong person. I have no idea what I'm doing anymore." she murmured.

Fred was silent for a mere moment before she felt him shrug against her.

"Well, that's half the fun, isn't it? It means life is a suprise. We should just go with it then."

Aero looked up at him again.

"I'm not sure I know how to do that." she said.

Fred placed his had on her cheek and smiled.

"I know. I know you live for control. And being out of control scares you to death. I understand that...or at least I can try to. I've never been one for control myself. But I know it helps you make it through each day. You've told me that much. You know..." he paused, thoughtfully, " you've never really explained why. I know you've told me slightly about your mother, but you never really told me about you."

Aero looked away from him, staring blankly at the floorboards.

"You're asking for a lot more than you know." she said.

"I'm asking for nothing but you." he disagreed.

"_I_ don't like knowing me. What makes you think you will?"

"How can you say that? How can you not like yourself? I happen to love you, more than life itself." he said, his hand on her bare arm.

"If you even knew...you'd understand. But I don't think you _could_ ever understand. You've grown up completely different than me."

"Then tell me. Tell me everything, I don't want anymore secrets. I want to know you, everything about you. Because I love you. And nothing you can say, nothing you've ever done or had done to you could change that even slightly." he told her confidently.

Aero willed him to stop talking, to stop asking her. He didn't want to know. Or rather, he shouldn't. Her past was dark, his was bright. He knew her parents, had seen the Black house, had met Sirius and her cousins and Uncle. He heard the stories. He should know that asking for her past was like Pandora's curiosity about opening her box. He'd get more than he bargained for. She could barely handle it. Why would she put that on him?

"That's a conversation for another day. I don't want to get into it." she said, shaking her head.

Fred leaned up on one arm and brushed some hair from her face with the other.

"Alright. So. Neither one of us has a plan. But are we...together again?" he asked.

Aero met his unsure gaze and realized she was the only sure one.

"We're not getting married." she stated bluntly.

Fred nodded slowly.

"I kind of assumed that much. Will we ever get married?"

"I'm not saying I don't want to be with you. But I don't want to get married. I don't want to be engaged. I don't think it's for me. I don't think it works for us."

Fred nodded again.

"My mother will be so dissapointed." he stated, smiling. Aero gave a laugh, shaking her head.

"I think we're more...contemperate. Perhaps one day...?" Fred said.

Aero rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"Sure."

* * *

Aero left Fred to his shower and stepped out the door and almost jumped when she saw George and Lee waiting outside, sitting on the ground, and looked up at her, glaring expressions plastered on their faces.

"Uhm...hey." she said awkwardly.

"_Hey_." Lee muttered.

"Alright. I understand you and my twin need to release your pent up whatever-it-is, but can you give us some due warning? Because then I could have proper time to find somewhere else to sleep. But coming up here to pass out and then finding out I can't be heard and the door is locked...knocking on some unsuspecting's bloke's door at midnight and asking to sleep in there is just...not appropriate. I'll look weird." George lectured.

Aero blinked.

"You're a little grumpy. Have you had your morning coffee yet?" she asked.

"My morning...oh just go eat your breakfast."

Aero grinned, feeling incredibly happy with everything, and nodded, leaving the two to stretch out before entering the room.

When she opened her dorm door she suddenly had an armful of something warm and brunette.

"I thought you'd died! Where were you? Did you get locked out of the common room or something? I know that Fat Lady can be a bit of a bitch sometimes -"

"_Ali_! Ali, I'm fine. Nothing happened." Aero soothed her.

"I'll shag Filch, nothing happened." Katie scoffed, toweling her hair as she came out of the bathroom.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about. I mean, she was probably off being a slag somewhere." Angelina muttered from her bed where she was rearanging her braids.

"Resident whore said what?" Katie exclaimed.

"Well, it's obvious. She breaks up with one guy and immediatley finds another." Angelina said with a shrug.

"Angelina, that's not necessary." Alicia chided, as usual, trying to keep the peace.

"If shagging my boyfriend makes me a slag, then I was. But see, I think you're just jealous because I was able to accomplish the shag, whereas you were not. So, despite the fact you're no doubt a boyfriend-stealing-bestfriend-backstabbing-lying-tramp, you're a horrible one. Tell me, is there anything you're actually good at? You can't seduce my boyfriend, which is no surprise to anyone, you can't properly win a fight without pushing someone backwards down a flight of stairs, and you can't manage to come up with decent comebacks." Aero replied coldly.

Katie whistled and raised her eyebrows. Alicia sucked in a breath and stepped out of the line of fire.

"Excuse you?"

"No bitch, excuse _you_, if you think you can get away with the shit you've done. I was willing to lay off you for the sake of being a decent person, but you've more than crossed the line of my temper, _several_ times."

Angelina stood so that if they were a centimeter closer they'd practically be smashed together. Neither one seemed to notice the obvious height difference as the Quidditch Captain towered over her Beater.

"You're getting pissed because you fell down the stairs?" Angelina scoffed.

"If I trip that's my own damn fault. But when someone pushes be down a flight of stairs because they're being petty, damn right I get pissed. Things are going to change around here, that's for sure." Aero said through gritted teeth.

Angelina raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"Is that so?"

Aero gave a sneering smirk and cocked her head.

"Act superior, like you're untouchable. Go ahead. But when everything you hold dear falls apart around you...don't say I didn't warn you." she said softly, though the chilly venom was still noticeable.

They stared hard at one another for a moment before Angelina gave a quiet scoff and bumped into her shoulder as she passed by and out the door.

There was silence for a moment.

"Are you really going to do something horrible to her this time?" Alicia wondered, an anxious look on her face.

Aero gave her a quick glance before shrugging dismissively and walked to her cart, filling up a glass with ice that clinked on the glass cup and the poured herself some Scotch. She leaned against the wall, staring thoughtfully at the outside world.

"Aero! It's only morning, and you're already having a drink?" Alicia chided.

"It's noon somewhere." Aero replied half-hearted.

"I'd be drinking too if I had to deal with Angelina everyday like she does." Katie said.

"Drinking is not the answer to problems." Alicia reprimanded.

"Stop being such a mother goose." Katie groaned.

"I am _not_ a mother goose!"

But Aero was deaf to the bickering of her roommates. All she could think about was everything that needed to change. It was time for a self-revolution of sorts. Everything needed to change. Not just Angelina, though that was a start. That bitch could continue walking around thinking she could just get away with everything. No, no...Aero also needed to change.

* * *

December was here full force, and despite being eighteen now, Aero had hardly noticed her birthday's passing. Instead she was focused on the banners hanging around the Room of Requirment that said "Have a Very Harry Christmas", courtesy of Dobby. She examined them curiously as Harry mingled with the rest of the DA, preparing for the last session of the year, until they came back from Holiday.

"My mum said you're invited for Christmas." Fred said brightly, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

Aero smiled and leaned back into him and turned her head up to give him a peck on the lips.

"I'd love to. Spending time with your family is always fun. But I won't be going to the Burrow." she said.

Fred blinked in confusion before looking down at her questioningly.

"Did I do something? _Again_?" he wondered.

Aero shrugged.

"No. I just want to spend it with my family."

"You're part of my family though."

"Yes, but so are my cousins and my goddaughter. I want to spend Christmas with them."

"You're mad at me, aren't you? We're not really over everything, are we?"

Aero sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation.

"No, Fred, you haven't done anything. I'm simply telling you I'm spending it with my family. It's not up for negotiation."

Fred frowned.

"Don't look at me like that. I spend all the time with your family usually. And I love them and consider them a part of my family, yes, but I also have other family to be with. I can't spend every waking moment with you, or you family. I won't do that again."

"What? It's suddenly a bad thing to be around my family so much?"

"No. Do you even listen to me? I love your family, but they're not my _only_ family. I'm not asking your permission, Fred, because I don't need it. I'm going to spend the Holiday with who I want to spend it with and that's that." Aero told him firmly before moving away from him and towards Neville, who would be her partner for the Impediment jinx, since Dean and Darius were currently plotting some kind of trouble in the corner, no doubt involving girls.

Aero had had a lot of time to think since her fight with Angelina. She rembmered how she hated the girls who were needy and cracked and got depressed when a guy left them. She hated them. Thought it was week and dependent behavior. And then she had a horrifying realization, that when she found out about Fred and Angelina, she had stayed in bed, practically comotose. She had acted like one of those girls. She was disgusted with herself. So she took a long ahrd look at herself and her relationship. She was never, ever, going to let herself become dependent on Fred's love and support again. Not like before. She was not going to be dependent on him, because she realized she couldn't ever fully trust him again, not after all the hurt he gave her. She was in love with him, yes, completely and totally. But things were changing, as she had said before. She had to be her own person, she wasn't going to keep letting this relationship swallow her up, and then when it went bad, spit her back out. She would stand on her own, as she had done before Fred, and the next time he hurt her, it wouldn't be so bad.

During her momentary thought she tensed and looked up, surprised, to see Neville with a triumphant look on his face. He had jinxed her.

"Yes! Ruddy hell, you're an Auror and I jinxed you!" He cried.

After a moment she shook it off and smiled at him.

"Well done, Neville." she said.

"Yeah, great job, Neville. Try again, come on." Harry encouraged.

Neville nodded eagerly and flicked his wrist against and Aero swiftly moved her hand to deflect it but Neville happened to be quicker and got it passed her and she froze again. She felt a surge of pride for the kid. He was certainly growing up...

"You know Nev...Hannah Abott was making eyes at you the other night." she said with a grin.

Neville blushed ten shades of red, all the way to his neck.

"W-what? That's completely mental." he stammered.

Aero shook her head.

"Nope. Definately saw some heavy eye contact going on, boy. So, tell me, what's going on?"

"N-n-nothing! Absolutely nothing. _You saw nothing!"_

"Are you sure? So if I go searching some broom cupboards tonight, I won't find you two -"

"Ah! Stop!" Neville cried, an even darker shade of red at her teasing and Aero burst out a fit of laughter.

"You're so mean to me sometimes..." he muttered, still blushing.

"You're so adorable, you know that?" she said with a grin.

"You're really acting like the big sister I now regret ever wanting."

"Good. Means I'm doing my job. So, if nothings going on, do you want me to put in a good word for you, or...?"

"**AERO**!"

* * *

"My little brothers are growing up so fast!"

"Stop it! You're a mental woman."

"You had your very first kiss, then will come your first date, your first girlfriend, you're first shag -"

"**AERO**! C'mon...I'm stressed out over this kiss enough already."

Aero managed to calm her laughs long enough to breath properly and she sat down on the window of the Astronomy tower, facing Harry. Everyone seemed to be shouting her name lately...

"What's so stressful about the kiss?" she wondered.

"I don't...well she...was crying."

Aero blinked and then opened her mouth and her lungs contracted before she bent over her knees, laughing.

"Aero!"

"I'm...I'm sorry, Harry. Really. But...was it really that bad?" she teased.

"It wasn't me! At least...I don't think it was me...Hermione said it was because she's emotional, about Cedric and Me."

"Ah, well, it's about time to buck up."

"You think she should stop crying?"

"Look, I'm not taking away her right to grieve here, but I don't want her making any moves and leading you on if she's still got feelings for another bloke. I don't care who she is, she needs to sort herself out before she starts kissing you. I already know you fancy her, so it's not fair."

"I do, I do...fancy her, I mean..."

"Did you like it? The kiss?"

"I don't know. It was wet, and I wasn't prepared for it, I went there looking for a Merry Christmas, she's crying about Cedric and then it just...how do you know? I mean, what are you supposed to...feel?" he asked, looking at her.

Aero sighed.

"Well...when I kiss Fred, I get this...tightening in my stomach, like a spring coiling. And it feels like every nerve ending it alive, hypersensetive. And the rest of the world disapears, just for that moment in time. I don't have to worry about anything, it's just us. I literally forget about everything else. And my head spins and my heart skips beats. And I forget to breath...and you know it's good when you forget the necessary function of you own body to survive just because you're kissing." she said, smiling at the end.

Harry watched her for a moment.

"Must be nice...to feel that."

"It is. But it's complicated, as are most relationships, ours maybe a little more. But it's those moments you live for. And you deserve to feel that. We both do. And you will. You'll get that. I don't think it'll be with Cho Chang, but if she's who you want, right now at least, then you should at least get the chance to see. See how you feel with her, if it feels right. Is it easy, or are you uncomfortable, uneasy? Test the waters."

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"I really do like her...so you think I should see her again?"

"If you want to see her again, do it. If you don't, don't do it. It's not as complicated as if feels, really. I know you're confused, but you'll figure it out."

He nodded again and Aero grinned before suddenly pulling him into a hug, ignoring his yelp of surprise, and clung to him, a teasing smirk on her face.

"You're having girl problems! You're turning into a _man_!"

"Knock it off!"

* * *

It was never odd to be called into that office. For most kids it might have been intimidating. She knew as a first year she would have been, but now it just seemed normal, like he wasn't one of the most known, most powerful wizards in the world. He never acted like it. He was just...

"Professor D." Aero said in greeting as she kicked her legs while she sat ontop of his big desk.

"Always pleasant to see you, Aero." he said with a grin. "The injuries you sustained were not severe then?"

"Nope. Just a mild concussion."

"Good, good. Because there's something I wish to discuss with you."

Aero nodded and her mind raced as she still saw the twinkle in his eyes, but the serious expression on his face.

She slipped off teh edge of the desk and sat in the chair across from him.

"There is a serious matter we must attend to. You see...the Ministry isn't going to cooperate with us. They're in severe denial, a denial that is crippling them. They're already being tampered with..."

"Professor D...what exactly are you getting at?"

"The Dementors...they're going to switch sides. Voldemort can promise them darkness, people to feed off of, whereas the Ministry keeps them contained. Now, either someone at the Ministry sent the Dementors after Harry, or he's already got control of them, or maybe he has control of someone at the Ministry who sent them. I have many theories on that. But...the Dementors guard Azkaban Prison, where many of his followers reside, and if he takes control of them..." Dumbledore trailed off, staring grimly at her suddenly pale complexion.

Aero felt her heart racing and her knuckles were white as they gripped the arm rests. No...no no no no NO!

"You told me...you told me when they went away they wouldn't come back out..._you said_!"

"Aero, I tried. I tried to convince Cornelius but he's not listening."

"You said...you told me...I believed you when you said they wouldn't come out..." she said quietly and Dumbledore watched silently as her eyes darted wildly around the room, as if searching for something to alert her that it was really just another nightmare.

"I'm sorry. Kingsley has been working to try and find another way to keep them in should...should the Dementors turn sides. But I just wanted you to be for warned. The likelyhood that your parents will be broken out of Azkaban is, high at best."

Aero clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, as if trying to shake the terrifying truth from her mind.

"You said..." she whispered, almost a whimpering sound, in defeat.

Dumbledore's eyes had finally lost their twinkle and his eyes were closed, his head bent.

"I know. I'm sorry."

* * *

Aero spent the night tossing and turning. Her stomach was in knotts, she had a headache and she was shaking. She had thought about going to Fred about this but she wasn't going to burden anyone with her own problems, not when she could handle them on her own. Besides, her parents hadn't broken out, not yet. She was just suddenly aware that they would. Even though she knew, in the back of her mind, that the moment Voldemort appearred again they would be broken out. She had known that. Perhaps it had been denial that kept her dreams safe from the maddening cackle of her mother and the stony silence of her father.

But they were not safe and protected from the denial tonight. Things had been calm mostly, Tonks had been taking care of Sirius' nightmares and Aero hadn't had one in months. Both Blacks had been plagued with nightmares that shook them to their cores...and tonight was no different. But Aero didn't sleep talk like Sirius did, so there was no comfort from the man on the otherside of the mirror. Nor from her sleeping roommates or her blissfully sleeping boyfriend.

Her nightmares were a jumbled mess, not like the memories she'd dream about before. This was just flashes, sounds, colors and feelings. It was more scary than the actual memories themselves.

She'd hear the cackling of her mother. She sound of a slap. Her own shrieking. Dumbledore speaking about her parents mixed in with the talking of her parents trial and the terrified shouting of Sirius in one of his fits and flashes of green lights and the dark mark over a home and Neville's parents screaming and her mother's eyes as they watched her from her seat in the courtroom and Lucius pointing his wand at her and the pain of the cruciatus curse on herself Umbridge's words of comparison between mother and daughter and then dementors and the little girl from her dream and a cold cell in Azkaban...

She couldn't seem to wake herself up from it. And when morning rolled around the dismal cold and snowy weather seemed to reflect her. She felt exhausted as soon as she woke up. Her hands were shaking. Her mind and body felt numb. But she got out of bed and took her shower and dressed for class and went down to breakfast.

"You alright, Aero? You look like you've seen a ghost." Alicia wondered.

"Fine."

"Eat some eggs. You probably just didn't sleep well."

"Sure."

"Well you actually have to eat them, Aero, not just move them around your plate."

"Sorry."

"Did you have a really bad nightmare or something?"

"No."

"Maybe she's sick?"

"Should we take her to Pomfrey?"

"Maybe she should just go back and rest?"

"I can take her notes for her..."

"Ms. Black?"

Aero continued poking at the scrambled eggs Katie had heaped onto her plate but slowly raised her eyes to look across the table where McGonagall stood behind Alicia, a grim look on her face. It looked like her day was going to get even better.

"I need to speak to you, on behalf of Headmaster Dumbledore, regarding the Weasley family."

Aero arched an eyebrow, her eyes staring dully back. She was too tired to deal with this...

_"There's been a terrible accident involving Arthur Weasley." _

* * *

Oh course, Umbridge had already found out about everything and seemed to think it would be best that if Aero had to go anywhere, she should go to the Ministry first. So Aero went, as they were doing an investigation into whether or not Arthur should be punished for wandering around the Ministry.

"Minister, I highly doubt he was doing anything illegal." Kingsley said.

"Well what was Weasley doing, wandering around the corridors of the Ministry so late?" The Minister demanded.

"Well it isn't a secret that he's allied with Dumbledore, sir." Lucius drawled, a glint in his eyes " And Dumbledore seems to think the Ministry untrustworthy, incompetent, even, because no one belives his theory about the dark lord. So it's no suprise to me, if he were to have his spies among us, to get information." Lucius cast his niece a sneering, brief look.

"That's it! It's what I've been saying all along! Albus Dumbledore is out to get me! He wants my position and the power and he'll do whatever he has to! Arthur Weasley is a pawn to get information on me! To bring me down! Who knows how many others he has? We have to do something. Make an example of Weasley, terrify the other spies!" The Minister exclaimed.

Aero thought he looked half barking now. But her mind was racing, working through her own mind numbing fog of fear from the night before, to see where the Minister was going with this. Arthur couldn't possibly get into trouble...

She glanced wearily at Kingsley who shared her look and they watched the Minister from their places. Shane and Desarie were off the side, along with Tonks and several other Aurors, Hit-wizards and Ministry officials.

"But was he doing anything illegal, Minister?" Madam Bones inquired.

"Of course they'll be no proof, of any illegal activities. While Dumbledore may be a traitor, he is not a foolish minded one." Lucius replied.

"Exactly! Dumbledore is intelligent, he'll have already tampered with any evidence." the Minister agreed.

Aero resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was ridiculous.

"So what do we do then? Throw Arthur Weasley in Azkaban? Surely that would be enough, the Dementors would steal any sort of rebellious thoughts from him." Lucius suggested, smirking.

_"What is he even doing here?"_ Aero muttered under her breath, shaking her head.

"Azkaban...perhaps..." The Minister trailed off.

"No! You can't possibly send Arthur to Azkaban. Minister, this is mental." Shane shouted, stepping forward.

"Get back in your place, Lathum!" one of the Officials demanded.

"And sit back and watch how out of control everything is getting? We've put a boy on trial for mere underage magic, like a high class criminal, just because he's Harry Potter! And just because something terrible happened to one of our own, because he's friends with Dumbledore, you're ready to sentence him to Azkaban like a Death Eater! This is all biased, and speculation at best!" Shane protested.

"Perhaps Lathum here is defending an ally?" Lucius snapped.

"It wasn't that long ago we were going to put _you_ into Azkaban, Malfoy. And with good reason, Death Eater activities. But I suppose that's all been forgiven and forgotten, right? We had actual reason to throw him in Azkaban, and didn't. Arthur is based on biased speculation with no proof of any wrong doing and you're all ready to throw him under the Knight Bus? Do you even hear yourselves?"

"Are you implying the Minister can't make an honest judgment?"

"If he chooses to throw Arthur away because of this nonsense, then yes!" Shane shouted, now face to face with Lucius.

Aero watched the scene with wide eyes. They would throw Shane and Arthur in Azkaban for this...

There were several gasps around the room.

"Know your place, Lathum!" an Official shouted.

"I was under the impression my place was to help protect the innocent. And If I have to be punished for speaking the truth in order for an innocent to be spared, then so be it." Shane snapped, glaring holes into Lucius Malfoy.

"_Enough_. You're all losing your minds." Kingsley commanded.

Kingsley moved forward as another official of Fudge's did, and Kingsley stepped in between him and Shane defensively.

"Shacklebolt is right...there will be no punishment, this time, for Arthur Weasley. Weatherby, make sure the Prophet keeps this hush, understood?" the Minister announced, tiredly running a hand over his face before leaving the room.

Aero watched a pale faced Percy scribbled hurriedly on his note papers and follow him out, trippng slightly on unsteady feet. Maybe, just maybe, he cared more than he was letting on...


	30. Chapter 30 Merry Mayhem!

**Congrats to Javalon14 for guessing my name right. I share the same name as the amazing Molly Weasley. :) **

**And addressing some mentioned issues...I know. They've been brought to my attention, but thank you. See, I know most of the issues, it just takes awhile sometimes to sort of...work out the kinks. Like, Aero having power at the Ministry and everywhere, not counting the ORDER. That will DEFINATLEY be addressed within the next...two chapters? You'll know WHY she was really chosen to be an Auror, so young and still in school. Aero herself has a vague idea of why, but now you'll know for sure. You'll also find out she doesn't exactly have all the power she seems to. **

**As for Alicia and Katie...Aero I think has demonstrated she's not really a touchy-feely person. She may have deep thoughts about feelings or whatever, but she doesn't express them. It's not what she does. So not confiding in Alicia and Katie...it's a fault. She bottles everything and that tends to ruin people. **

**As for changing, she actually is going to change. I know she seemed to go through this face where she basically just talked shit. Like, getting revenge but never doing it, and saying she'd change something about herself, but she never did. It's a kid thing. She may be practically an adult mentally and emotionally, and in age as well, but she's still got some child-like traits. But in war, things like that can't last forever. She still has some growing up to do herself. **

**Haha. Shane and Desarie will definately have some big roles in the next few chapters. But I will warn you, all who like them...get your fill now. Dun dun dun. **

* * *

It was nearly ten in the morning when Aero showed up at Grimmauld place, which is where Dumbledore told her the Weasley kids were via Patronus. SHe was exhausted and felt emotionally drained. She'd had one too many heartfailures recently. It couldn't be healthy.

She made her way into the kitchen and found Sirius there, a cup of hot coffee next to him.

"Figured you'd be around." he said.

Aero sat down and gratefully took a sip.

"How'd everything go here?"

"Well, you're boyfriend and his carbon copy have right little tempers." Sirius grumbled.

She cast him a sidelong glance as she took another sip of her hot coffee, feeling it burn the roof of her mouth.

"Whatever they said they didn't mean it. They tend to get caught up in the moment." she told him gently.

"Whatever."

"Sirius. I know them, they didn't mean it. They needed someone to vent on and you were here."

"Yeah, well you should've been here."

Aero set her cup down and turned her glare on her cousin.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't...I'm sorry."

"Whatever."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"How're your nightmares?" she asked quietly.

Sirius shrugged beside her, taking a cup she noticed as Fire Whiskey from in front of him and gulping the rest down.

"Sirius..."

"Shouldn't you be worrying about your _boyfriend_ and Harry?" Sirius said, bitterly when the boyfriend was muttered.

"Fred's probably sleeping and - wait what's wrong with Harry? - And I am an unbelievable multi-tasker, I can worry about multiple things and people at once."

"First thing, I wanna smack that boyfriend around, he needs to watch his mouth. Secondly, Harry had a vision while he was sleeping, he entered Voldemort's mind, he looked through the eyes of the snake that attacked Arthur though he didn't tell that to the others, and then Dumbledore sent them here and if he hadn't had the vision Arthur would be dead. Molly came in earlier, he's fine."

Aero shook her head as she tried to process the information and took another hit of caffeine, taking a rather large gulp that burned her throat before Sirius grabbed her cup and poured some of his alcohol in, stirring it absently with a spoon before pushing it to her mouth again.

"Thank-you. So Harry was in Voldemort's head?" she asked, alarmed.

"Appears so. Like a link. He saw what was happening while it was happening."

"Right...because that's not creepy or anything." she muttered.

"Certainly freaked Harry out. Thought he was going mental. Said he thought he was a snake, wanting to attack Dumbledore..."

"Well what did you tell him?" she asked, leaning forward intently.

"Told him he was blaming himself, Dumbledore would've told him if anything was wrong, and he would just have breakfast and go to bed."

Aero stared, shocked, at her cousin before shaking her head.

"You know...you really have no tact, whats-so-ever." she muttered before she pushed herself up, bringing her cup with her, and leaving the room.

She wandered up the stairs, avoiding the creeky ones, and pausing outside his door. She wondered if she should've checked on Fred first, but Harry seemed more scarred, seeing as he was the one who saw everything, and Fred and George were probably sleeping. She carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open. It was dark, only a sliver of light illuminating the room, and she could see a figure hunched over on one of the beds. She could hear Ron snoring slightly as he slept away and knew it was Harry, still awake probably just as emotionally drained as she was.

"Harry?" she whispered.

The figure jumped and he saw him turned his head, and his glasses caught in the light. She made a motion with his hands and as soon as he stepped foot out or the room, closing the door soundly behind him, she threw her arms around him, standing on her toes since he had gotten so tall, and just held him. His arms were instantly clutching her back and he shook once.

They held the pose for a moment, just taking the offered comfort, before she stepped away and grabbed her coffee up off the banister and firmly grabbing his hand and bringing him up the rest of the stairs to her own room. She snapped her fingers and the lights flickered on, she preffered candle light, and had him sit on the bed with her.

"Alright. Sirius gave me the watered down story of everything. How are you?" she asked.

Harry shrugged.

"Don't do that with me. Don't you do that. Don't shut me out. I know I haven't been around a lot lately, and I've been so caught up in my own drama I've neglected you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry about that. But I'm here now. And from this moment on, from right now, you have my attention. My complete and utter attention. So spill your guts, kid."

"You've got your own stuff, that's not a capitol offence, you know." he reminded her.

Aero sighed. She felt so immensley guilty for not paying better attention to him.

"Yeah well, maybe it should be." she muttered.

Harry sighed and leaned back against the pillows and Aero shifted to put her coffee on the nightstand and moved to sit beside him, both staring off at the wall in front. He told her everything. He told her about Dumbledore avoiding him and she promised she'd rip him a new one, making him laugh. He told her about the dream, in detail, and everything that scared him about it. He told her his fears about telling the others. He told her about thinking he'd gone mad, and gone evil like Voldemort.

"You're not evil, Harry. You could never be evil." she told him quietly, his head now on her shoulder and hers on top, her arm placed behind his head so her hand could twirl the end of some strands of his hair.

"Why? Because I'm the boy who lived?" he scoffed bitterly.

"No. Because you're the best person I know. There's not a single evil thing about you."

Harry was silent for a minute.

"I feel like I'm going mad, Aero." he admitted.

"You're not going mad, Harry. Believe me, I'm mental myself, I've seen the raving lunatics, I'm related to half of them." Harry laughed, "And let me tell you, kid, you're not one."

"But what if these visions, dreams, whatever they are, force me to go mad?"

"You're stronger than you think you are, Harry Potter. Besides, if you go mental, I'll be right there beside you." she promised.

"You know, we've been talking about me for the past hour. I know something's going on with you, you came into my room looking like death."

"Well, thanks for that compliment. You always know how to make me feel better. And nothing. Just had a nightmare and didn't sleep well."

"I thought we weren't shutting each other out."

"I'm not shutting you out. You just don't need to worry about it. It's not important. Besides it's high time I put my stuff aside and be there for you. Mine's not nearly as important, nor half as interesting as your issues."

"I'm glad you find them so fascinating."

"Me too. Now, you little brother, need rest."

"But what if I have another vision?"

"Then you can tell me all about it when you wake up because I'll be right here."

"You'll stay with me?"

She placed a kiss on top of his head.

"Always."

Harry shifted into a more comfortable position and after ten minutes she felt him sag against her and his breath even out. He picked his wand from his pocket and took his glasses off and set them aside. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. She was going to have to have words with that old man. Clearly, they had different ideas on how to handle Harry. And neither were under any false impressions. She wasn't here for him, she would do nearly anything for the cause, but Harry was, as always, her first priority. He came before everything and everyone else. And Dumbledore was hurting him by avoiding him, and he probably knew all about this possible connection to Voldemort, which meant he was keeping a secret about Harry from her, and she needed to remind him that shit wasn't going to fly with her. She would only remain loyal, risking Azkaban time and her very sanity, if it was in Harry's best interest.

While Dumbledore knew how to work her temper, Fudge knew how to work her nerves. And he was on her last one. He sent Umbridge to Hogwarts, even having her investigate her, after trying to make Harry a criminal. She was being 'controlled' by the Ministry. And then he goes and tries to send Arthur to Azkaban. Where did this man get off?

But it was her parents that killed her sanity, or rather what little she had left. Just the thought of them breaking out of prison terrified her. What would she even do? Probably have a complete mental breakdown. Her mother had said the last time she'd seen her that she'd come for her. And while her mother was insane and sadistic, she kept her word. She'd hunt her down like prey. And Merlin knows what she'd do when she found her. While her father would be as cold as he always was, emotionless, and kill her cold blood, her mother would torture her to the brink of insanity, just for amusement. She'd have her beg for death. She'd have her reduced to nothing more than she was when she was three. A helpless, vulnerable, whimpering child, while she held all the control over her life, just like always.

Just thinking about it made her want to hide under her bed like she did when she was little to try and escape her mother. Instead she clenched her eyes shut, clutched at Harry who was soundly asleep, and counted to ten, trying to evaporate the paralyzing fear that had washed over her. Her mother was gone, securely locked away in Azkaban, far from her. She couldn't hurt her. She was safe with Sirius again. But her mother was already winning, wasn't she? She was locked tight in Azkaban, and yet Aero was lying in bed, nearly hyperventalating. Her mother was sitting in her cell all alone, and probably knew she was driving her daughter insane, cackling to herself about it. After all these years, she could still make Aero terrified beyond all reason, without doing anything. After all these years, after trying so hard to break away from her mother, Bellatrix LeStrange still had control over her.

Instead of trying to fight for the collection of herself, she listened to everything. Eventually she had to go upstairs and calm Sirius down from a nightmarish fit, give him some whiskey and a dreamless drought potion Tonks had ordered in and sent him to bed. And then she went and checked on everyone. Mrs. Weasley was sleeping restlessly in her room, Ginny was burrowed under her blankets, Ron was snoring blissfully, and the twins were nearly having fits with how restless they were. She went in for a moment, kissed Fred's forehead and ruffled George's hair before going back to her room. Harry was restless now, his face scrunched up, occassionally twitching. She just lay beside him and ran her hand soothingly through his hair. By the next hour, no sleep, she had come to the conclusion that Sirius hadn't poured _nearly_ enough alcohol into her coffee.

* * *

The trip to the hospital was not a fun one. The twins seemed to have brightened from what Sirius had originally told her they were like. Everyone was all too happy to see Arthur. Except maybe Harry, he was still a little uneasy, and Tonks saying his vision was useful wasn't helping the situation. So Aero paid a visit to Arthur, quickly, saying she'd stop by again, and left the room.

"How's he?" Tonks asked when she entered the hallway.

"Fine. Still bleeding if they take off the bandages. S'pose they'll get that fixed soon." Aero shrugged.

"Where you off to?" Mad-eye asked.

"Mental Ward." Aero said before promptly turning on her heel and finding the floor.

She could hear a shriek or two here and there as she walked and at every one she winced. She wondered how many people had ended up in St. Mungos by her mother's wand. And then she came upon the two that never left.

Augusta and Neville Longbottom sat in chairs inside the room, a thin, wispy haired woman sat on the bed, a thin, dull eyed man beside her. She was playing with a wrapper between her fingers and Neville was sullenly chatting away. Aero had never felt worse. She hated her parents and because of her parents Neville barely had his.

Aero remembered coming here. She'd look in and watch the couple, just to remind herself what her parents were capable of. That was back when she had no memories of their acts against her. So she'd look at Alice and Frank Longbottom. She wondered what they were like before, when they could hold a conversation and knew who their son was, and back before they experienced the wrath of the LeStranges. Were they friendly like Neville, or maybe clumsy like him? Were they funny? Would they have the same unfathomable forgivness of her their son had?

She sighed and walked away from the door. She felt like she was intruding on a personal moment, which she probably was, and knew Neville would hate it if he found her there. He didn't like talking about his parents. And how would Augusta feel towards her? She'd never met the woman, but she doubted Mrs. Longbottom would take pleasure in her company.

Instead she went back to Arthur's room, just in time for them all to leave and Mad-eye shuffled her into the room. She crowded around Arthur's bed, keeping an eye on the door. If they were expecting the twins not to have some extendable ears left-over...

"Did they find it?" Arthur asked.

"No. They searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur. But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?" Tonks said, pulling up a chair.

"I reckon he sent it as a lookout, cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had much more time to look around. So Potter says he saw it all happen?" Mad-eye growled.

"Yes...You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this..." Mrs. Weasley said uneasily.

"Yeah well, there's something funny about that Potter kid, we all know that..." Mad-eye said.

"Mads! There's nothing wrong with him." Aero protested, smacking his jacket-clad arm.

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Dumbledore should be speaking to Harry if he's so _concerned_." Aero scoffed, remembering Harry and her's earlier talk.

"Of course he's concerned. The boy's seeing things from You-Know-Who's snake...Obviously Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him, we've got a problem. We need to be careful." Mad-eye said.

"Oh that's great, you wanna hide more things from him? He deserves to know what's going on, Mad-eye." Aero said, turning to face him.

"I get you're all protective of him, that's why Dumbledore wants you on the Order, but I trained you not to let your emotions get in the way of an assignment, Black. Think about this logically."

"He's not an assignment, he's a kid!"

"He's got a link to You-Know-Who's mind! He's a liability!"

"A liability you were willing to risk your life for not two days ago!"

"I'm just saying we need to be careful with the information we give him."

"Don't you think there's enough secrets?" she said angrily.

Mad-eye and Aero seemed to be staring each other down and Tonks shifted uneasily in her chair.

"Guys...Oi, guys! Here is not the place to have this argument. We don't know what the link means, or what's going on. But we do need to be careful. _But_, that doesn't mean that Harry gets blocked out of everything just because of a possible link. He deserves to know at least some things that are going on, considering most concern him." She interrupted.

Both Aurors were still glaring holes into each other, but they nodded. Now wasn't the place for this conversation. Besides, Mad-eye wasn't the one Aero wanted to talk to. If you have a problem, take it out at the source. Advice courtesy of Mad-eye himself.

The walk back was quiet, and at that moment, when Harry looked particularly pale and even the twins were serious, Aero knew they had brought teh Extendable Ears. She heaved a sigh and as she walked by, ruffled Harry's hair comfortingly before walking beside Fred. She bumped her hand against his and he immediatley grasped hers. It seemed she'd have a lot of talking to do...

* * *

Harry was pale, moping and quiet. Clearly, something was going on in his mind. Probably nothing correct and no doubt something from their conversation in the hospital that was taken out of context, but she'd have to deal with that later. Currently she was standing outside Fred's door. She hadn't talked to him since his father was attacked. She knew it was bad girlfriend-behavior, and Fred had been extremely emotional, but everyone was. Everything was going on all at once. But that didn't mean Fred deserved to get lost in the shuffle...

With an extreme mental sigh she turned the knob and stepped into the room. Fred was on his bed, hunched over with his back towards her. She leaned back and let her weight close the door before sliding across the cold floor in her socks and kneeling behind him on the bed. She wrapped her arms around him, clutching his upper torso to her. Fred trembled once and sagged against her, his head bent.

"Why him?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time." she said.

"What was he doing?"

"You know I can't tell you that..."

"Oh that's right, because you're so much more important than the rest of us! You're an Auror, a rich Noble! You're allowed in on meetings and go out on assignments and risk _everything_ for this Order, for this war that hasn't even done anything yet! And My dad gets hurt...my dad gets seriously hurt and _you can't tell me why_!" he shouted, standing up and shoving her away, pacing the room in front of the bed, his eyes accussing and face flushed. There were tears in his eyes.

"Fred..."

"He's my dad! And you're my girlfriend! And Bill's my brother! And my mother is involved! If one of you were hurt, or Merlin _forbid_ killed, would I be allowed to know why? Because I'm telling you now, the _'they're in the Order, they knew what they signed up for'_ excuse won't cut it."

"I know it's hard -"

"No you don't! You don't! Your parents are murderers! You hate them! Mine are good people! They're risking their lives for this...this mysterious rebellion. And for what? So they can be mauled by snakes? Why? What for? Oh wait...wait, I'm not allowed to know, right? Because I'm a stupid little student? But despite you're a student, my age, you can be an Auror and go out on Order missions and know everything that's going on!"

"Will you _stop_?"

"Why you? Why him? Why now? Why do you have to do this? Why do you have to be a spy at the Ministry? By does my dad need to be the one in the bed? Don't think I don't know the consequences...I heard about the barbaric ways the people in the first Order were killed. I know that's what you're all risking. I know if you get caught you'll be thrown in Azkaban, or given the kiss and I'll never see any of you again...I know it's for the right cause...I know the risks, and the odds, and I know you have to keep secrets...but why _him_?" he said finally, the salt water running from his eyes.

Aero felt her heart contrict and moved to stand before him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and they fell to the groun in a heap, his hands clutching her back almost desperately, his face burrowed into neck, hiding behind her hair, and she cradeled him there.

"Why him?" he whispered.

"I don't know..."

"He almost died, Aero...I almost lost my dad and no one would tell me anything or let me see him...I had no idea what was going on...I was so scared for the first time in my life...I actually thought I would lose him. I've never been so scared in my life...and Percy didn't even come. He didn't even care enough to show up..._why's everything falling apart_?" he cried.

Aero just held him tighter. She had no answer for him. She didn't know why Percy was hurting them the way he was. She didn't know why Arthur had to be the one to get hurt. She didn't know why everything had to be so messed up, or hard. She didn't know. She couldn't give him the answers he wanted, _needed_.

* * *

"Will you stop with the _caroling _already? I swear, you say peppermint stick _one more time_ and I'll shove one up your back chimeny." Aero snapped, exasperated, as she watched Sirius do a little dance as he sang, putting up decorations in the parlor room.

"_Alright then_, Mr. Grinch."

"That's _Ms_. Grinch to you, Cindy Lu."

"Up on the roof top - !"

Aero gave an angry shriek and chucked a peppermint candycane at his head.

"Bloody hell! It's stuck in my hair! You licked it!" he shouted.

"Just be lucky that's where I put it."

"I'm gonna shove something up _your_ -"

"_What_ is going on in here?" Remus said, stopping the doorway with a box of ornaments.

"She threw a used candycane at me!" Sirius cried, pointing accussingly at her as she picked up another one from the dish and stuck it in her mouth.

Remus turned to look at her, his eye brows raised, and Aero gave him a sticky smile, kicking her festively painted feet at him. He shook his head, eyes raised to the ceiling. He set the box down on the table.

"Honestly, you behave like children."

"She's the one being a Scrouge." Sirius said.

Aero stuck her red colored tongue at him.

Sirius took an ornament from the top of the box and chucked it. Aero hunched over to avoid it and looked highly affronted, and aimed another with the flick of her wand and Sirius paused trying to de-candy-fy his hair to duck behind the couch. He peered up, only his eyes peeking out at her, glaring.

Remus jumped when the ornaments crunched and shattered against the walls and stood to look at them both in turn, eyes wide and shaking his head.

"You're both getting coal for Christmas." he stated.

_"Aw, but Santa!"_ they whined in chorus.

"Sounds like happy Holidays in here." Shane announced, striding into the room with a grin.

Remus groaned and waved his wand lazily, the ornaments putting themselves back together before they plopped back inthe box.

"If you're going to act like another infant, go to another room. We're all full." Remus replied.

"Aw what's wrong, Max? Grinch put your antlers on too tight again?" Desarie teased, coming into the room with Selena toddling behind her.

Selena was clad in a little bright green dress, white fluffing around the egdes, and red tights. Her blonde hair was curled tightly in two pigtails and a white headband was there with little antlers attached. The bells on them chimed when she walked.

"Aw, well don't you look adorable?" Aero cooed, scooping the grinning toddler up onto her lap.

Aero broke a small piece of candy-cane off for her and Selena took it in her little fist and promptly shoved it in her mouth, grinning toothily.

"Lena, rembmer to chew. You're a civilized three year old, remember?" Desarie said.

"Yum." Shane replied.

"She eats like you."

"I'm not nearly that messy..."

"You have a red shirt for just spaghettie. " Desarie reminded her husband.

"That's not fair. The noodles are slippery and there's a _lot_ of sauce."

Desarie rolled her eyes.

"So, what'd you get me?" Shane asked, hanging over the back end of Aero's chair.

Aero glanced at Remus.

"Can he have my coal, Santa?"

"_I'm_ going to chuck an ornament at you."

"Ho ho ho to you too."

"Who said ho?" Tonks asked, skipping, clumsily, into the room.

"How do you always know when I'm talking about you?" Aero teased.

"Oh hardy har har. Are you coming with us to get the Christmas tree?" she asked.

"We're getting a tree?" Sirius asked, excited.

"Did you think I was going to hang the ornaments off the dead house-elves' ears?" Remus asked.

"I suppose you could...that'd really brighten the house up. Do you think we could -"

"No."

"Bahumbug."

"And a Merry Christmas to you as well."

"Who's going?" Aero asked, shaking her head at them.

"Mad-eye, Kingsley, Bill, us." Tonks said.

"I'm in. Make sure Dung doesn't jack my present." Aero said, turning to Remus.

"I won't let anything happen to your coal." he said, sighing.

"Guard that with your life." she said seriously, pointing until she was out the door, candy-cane in mouth, after the others.

Sirius and Remus turned and looked at the plush red chair she had just vacated and saw Selena sitting there. She plucked a candy-cane from the bowl and waved at them, smiling toothily at them.

They glanced at each other before waving back. Remus turned to look back at the Ornaments and deciding if they needed another box when Sirius wailed;

"_Moony! That girl's a bad influence on the kid! Cindy-lu Who just threw her sticky candy-cane in my hair!"_

* * *

"We should get one of those."

"Ooh, and these."

"What about these? They're not too pricey."

"These are beautiful. I have to get some!"

"Excuse me, ladies! We've been shopping for an hour. Can we get the damned tree now?" Shane shouted.

Desarie turned to glare at him, a hand firmly on her hip, shopping bags in the other.

"Times a'ticking, women. You all still have to decorate." Mad-eye reasoned.

"We? You mean us. You're helping me decorate." Aero said.

"Why am I decorating a Christmas tree?" he growled.

"Who else would get the high places for me?"

"Can't you make yourself grow?"

"Has anyone ever beaten you with your own peg-leg before, Captain Hook?"

"Point taken." he sighed, resigned.

"Can we go then?" Kingsley asked.

"Yeah. I wanna go before all the big trees are gone." Bill said excitedly.

"Ooh, we should get a really, really big one." Tonks agreed, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

"Bigger the better." Bill said.

Aero turned to ask Desarie a question on a pair of shoes when a man walked into her, sending them both into the stone wall. Aero let out an 'oomf' as they steadied themselves and her bags hit her legs. The man apologized and she was going to say sorry herself, but he left before she could even distinguish what accent he had. She shook it off and turned to the others.

They left the little shopping centers and moved towards the tree line, where Mad-eye severed a large tree with his wand. After five minutes it cut through and they rest of them caught it, Desarie standing back with the bags. They grabbed hold of the tree and apparrated to Grimmauld Place, before being squeazed in the hallway.

"Ouch, Nymphadora! That happened to be my foot you just clodhopped on." Aero cried.

"I can't see your feet through all these branches." Tonks shouted back.

"Move forward! What are you doing, trying to imprint my backside on the front door?" Mad-eye growled from somewhere in the back.

"But everyone should see that backside you've got going on, Mad-eye!" Bill teased.

"All that Auror work certainly paid off!" Tonks added happily.

"Knock it off, the lot of you. I don't know what's more uncomfortable. The fact I'm becoming too intimate with the door handle or you all eye-balling my arse." he growled.

"How much is too intimate with the door handle?" Aero wondered.

Mad-eye gave a rough grunt of annoyance and Aero made a face.

"Remind me to have Kreacher wash that then.."

* * *

Christmas Eve was certainly entertaining. Drinks were passed around and Mrs. Weasley had made plently of food for everyone. Decorations were verywhere and they had finally gotten the tree up, despite the fact Mad-eye knocked it over once, and then Crookshanks pushed Sirius into it afterwards.

Aero was just as festive as the rest of them. Sirius had a red silk shirt she had gotten him and his hair was neat and combed, and Mrs. Weasley was wearing a patterned red dress. Desarie was dressed in a short red santa dress and hat and Tonks in a green elf one, chatting a red faced Remus up in the corner. Aero herself wore a corset green dress with a layered bottom and red heels, her own hair was turned a snow white with thin red and green streaks through it.

Sirius laughed loudly at a joke the twins were telling, waving their hands animatedly and George choked on his Butterbeer. Mad-eye was talking to Mrs. Weasley and Kingsley by the food and Mrs. Weasley gave a yelp of surprise when Crookshanks shot under teh table and around their legs, chasing a dyed red spider. Ron promptly screamed when he caught sight of it and Selena gave a copy-scream in return from her chair as Hermione and Ginny cooed over her. Harry just laughed along with Bill.

Aero shot down the stairs, rounding corners, just another blur in the party, shouting at Dung.

"I swear to Merlin Dung, if you don't stop thieving my panties I'll shikabob you with your own wand!"

"I 'avnt got nothin!"

They raced around the corners and Shane finally accidentally tripped him on his way to the kitchen and Aero sat on his back until he released her red panties.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Aer?" Sirius asked, laughing.

"Oh yeah. Real peaceful, this is."


	31. Chapter 31 Must come to an end

"My brother is an absolute _prat_!" Fred fumed.

"I know, Fred." Aero replied, crossed legged on the floor in her room as she helped Selena set up her new toys.

She had gotten it for Christmas from her parents. It was an enchanted Doll House, an exact replica of the Lathum household. The rooms were exactly how they were at that very moment in the actual house. Even the furniture was enchanted to the right places. The dolls were enchated as well. Each one looked like a member of Selena's little family. It was enchanted to not only replicate the house, but the people as well. There was a little Selena, a Desarie, a Shane, even and Aero. Once they had them dressed, Aero would put them in the house, close the house up, tap the roof with her wand and it was brought to life. The dolls moved like little people, the lights were on, the doors locked. It was simply magical. She had gotten quite the stash of gifts. Dean and Darius both sent her a coloring book that moved and told a story when it was all colored in.

"Where does he get off sending that sweater back? Without even a note. He's worse than a prat." George agreed.

"I bet he doesn't even care about how dad is or how much he's hurting mum." Fred snapped.

"How are we even related to him?" George whined.

"Switched at birth. He can't be ours."

"We should find our real brother."

"I'm sure he'll eventually realize his mistakes and come crawling back to you." Aero said.

"Yeah...yeah. We'll have him beg. He threw us away so easily, but he'll really have to beg to have us back." George said with a grin.

Aero shook her head and picked Selena up, walking out the door and down the stairs, the twins trailing after her. They were going to the hospital again to visit Arthur. So Aero passed her goddaughter off to her parents and left with the others. Arthur had apparrently decided on getting stitches, a Muggle remedy, which hadn't worked with the venom and Mrs. Weasley just about had a Hippogriff about the whole thing. Everyone practically scattered from the room.

Aero followed Bill with the twins to get coffee and tea and they leaned against the wall nearby the ward, waiting for Mrs. Weasley to calm down and find out if she finally killed Arthur, just smothered him with a pillow or something. But while walking around the wards Aero saw a familiar name on one of the doors.

_Johnson, Raegan_.

So she quickly bid the twins and Bill good-bye, saying she had to attend to something at the Ministry for Mad-eye, and left, going into Diagon Alley. Most shops were closed, being a holiday and whatnot, but the Potions Mistress was open. She was an older woman, with quite the eccentric look to her. She moved her arms as she searched through her ingredients cupboards and the bangles on her wrists jingled.

"Dandelion puff, dear?" she clarified.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well then here's a pouch."

Aero thanked her with a grin before paying the sickles and rushing out. She got back into the Hospital, shaking the snow from her hair. She paused for a moment. She'd have to get by Fred and the others... She scruntched up her face and her hair turned a smoky gray, her eyes dark and dull, her form hunched over, her nose grew and her skin wrinkled. She walked a ways, her clothes not exactly fitting right on her. She spotted an open room and saw two witches in deep conversation, neither paying any attention to the long black cloak hung over the back of the chair. Aero levitated it over and slung it over herself, now completely disgiused, and headed right past the twins and Bill, who were in a debate about Goblins and Galleons.

She skuttled past them and into the Johnson room, peeping her head inside. Raegan Johnson, a man Aero happened to know was Angelina's uncle, was fast asleep on his bed, snoring. A stack of presents sat at the foot. She crept forward, examining the tags on the boxes and bags. They were going to his relatives, not from. Aero couldn't help but smirk as she found Angelina's.

She tapped her wand on the wrapping paper with neatly unfolded. She opened the box and found a pair of silver and ruby earrings. She took her pouch out and sprinkled some Dandelion puff on it, and then blew it off. It was enough. She carefully tapped the box again and it looked as if she never touched it. She hobbled out and down the hallway 'til she finally morphed herself back. She walked up to the Welcome Witch desk.

"I found this jacket." She stated.

"Put it in the lost and found box." the blonde said, disinterested.

Aero happily obliged and found herself back at Fred's side, their hands together and fingers intertwined.

"I think it's about safe to head back." Bill decided.

Aero wearily eyed the door.

"Do we have to?" she asked.

Bill grinned and shoved them all forward.

"There you all are. Time to go. Your father needs to rest. Let's go find the others. Stitches, _honestly_..."

* * *

Angelina plopped herself on her bed and eagerly opened the box from her uncle Raegan. She threw the box down, smiling widely at the ruby and silver earrings, and the box hit her beside table, knocking a picture off. She took no notice of the picture, the one that used to be a group photo of Wood, Katie, Alicia, her and the twins. Now it only bore her and the twins, the others conveniently cut away...

She rose to her mirror and carefully stuck the earrings in her ears, smiling proudly at herself. She couldn;t wait to show them off at school. Show that the _Blacks_ weren't the only family who could buy expensive gifts.

She rang her fingers over the earrings and gave a little sneeze.

"I hope I'm not catching a cold..." she muttered.

She picked up the box and fixed the picture, touching each of the twins faces, before setting it right and heading downstairs.

* * *

Aero was rifling through her stuff, trying to get organized. Her room was trashed with multitudes of shopping bags and boxes from Christmas. She huffed some hair from her face and reached for teh bag under her bed. She pulled it out and from her corner of her eye she could've sworn she saw something inside.

Frowning she reached a hand in and pulled out a piece of...paper? On one side there was messy writing, obviously male.

_Always watching. _

Aero felt a chill down her spine just at the sentence. Who was always watching?

She flipped it over and her stomach dropped. It was a picture...a picture taken the day she was in the medical wing at St. Mungos after her fall down the stairs. When she and George kissed, when they were still going along with their revenge plan against Angelina and Fred...

Who would do something like that?

She felt her heart stop. She remembered the Owl she had gotten...Vaine. Vaine had contacted her then...he must've been at the Hospital, taken the picture...and the man she bumped into the other day while shopping...she hadn't been able to recognize the accent, but now she did. Bulgarian. Vane Marcoff had taken this picture and slipped it into her bag. This was some kind of warning, that he was watching her, that he could get to her? Probably, but it was probably a little bit of revenge...they hadn't ended well after all.

Oh Merlin...what would Fred think? What if he sent one to Fred? She had to tell him first...her and George. She hurriedly picked up the picture and raced down the stairs, slamming the twins' door open.

"What in Merlin's name -" George exclaimed.

"What's chasing you?" Fred asked, pulling a shirt over his head.

"George...Vaine knows."

"Knows...?" George asked.

"What we were doing." she said.

George's face paled.

"How do you know?" he demanded.

"He sent me a picture...he was there."

"Hello? What am I missing?" Fred asked, sitting on his bed.

"He was there? I don't remember seeing anyone there." George said, panicking.

"I didn't either. But he did. Here." she said, thrusting the picture into his hands.

Fred tired to crane his neck up to see it too but George turned away from him.

"Can someone inform the poor third wheel over here?" he whined.

"This is mental. We're not even doing this anymore!"

"I know!"

"But do you know how this looks?"

"I saw it!"

"_Hello_!" Fred shouted, jumped up.

Aero and George stopped talking and turned to look at him, worry on their faces.

"Why thank-you for your attention. Now, before you carry on ignoring me, perhaps one of you would be so kind as to inform my marvelous self of what crisis is currently taking place so I can panick too?"

Aero and George shared and glance and then something clicked in her head. This didn't have to be all horrible...who said Vaine couldn't be _helping_ her, even if that wasn't what he intended?

"George and me kissed." she said bluntly.

"Aero!" George exclaimed.

"And Vaine was there, outside my hospital room, which is when it happened, and he took a picture. He sent it to me and I only just found it. He says he's always watching. It's blackmail of sorts."

"Please stop talking!" George cried.

"I think we should tell him before Vaine tells him." Aero said.

Fred had sat back down on the bed and was staring at them, wide eyed, and disbelieving.

"You're joking." he croaked.

"No...I suppose we should tell you. But no, we did kiss...it just isn't what it sounds like." George said, glancing at Aero, before looking determindely at his twin.

"Isn't what it sounds like? You mean it doesn't sound like my girlfriend and brother kissed?" he said sarcastically.

"I think if anything, you committed the worse crime, almost shagging my best friend, the girl your brother fancied. ANd mind you, we didn't go that far. You and Angelina did no doubt more than kiss. _Obviously_." Aero stated.

"So what? You two decided to kiss behind my back to get back at us?" Fred asked.

"Yes." they replied.

"Unbelievable." Fred muttered.

"But that's where it ended. That was the first and last time. Vaine just managed to catch us at the right moment." George explained.

"You kissed..."

"Fred. I've forgiven you for something much worse. Don't start this." Aero huffed.

"I don't have the right to be mad, here?" he asked.

"_No_." they both answered.

Fred huffed now, crossing his arms.

"So...there's nothing between you two?" he asked, glancing suspiciously between the two.

"Absolutely nothing."

"And the whole kiss was revenge?"

"Exactly."

"Oh thank Merlin." Fred sighed, raising his eyes to the ceiling in...relief?

"You're alright with...?" George asked.

"Alright with it? Of course not.I'll never be alright with you snogging my girlfriend. But if it was only in the name of revenge...besides, you told me about it. So now the problem remains of...what do we do about that wanker?"

Aero sighed in relief.

"I'm not sure...he can't get away with blackmailing us though." George said firmly.

"Who says this has to be a negative thing, though?" Aero asked.

"Excuse me?" the twins asked.

"Well...the best way to annoy your enemies is to smile at them. The best way to annoy Vaine is turning his revenge on me into a good thing for me. So...we use it against Angelina. Besides, she was the other one we were aiming the kiss at anyways. She deserves it. So it'd be hitting two birds with one stone, no?"

The twins were silent for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Brilliant...how do we go about this diabolical plot?" Fred wondered.

"_Well_..." Aero began.

* * *

"Bloody Snape...who does he think he is...coming into _my_ house...he's _my_ godson..." Sirius grumbled.

Aero once again ignored the mutterings of her cousin as they lay quietly on her bed. Sirius had had a nightmare that night and instead just followed Aero shakily down the stairs to her own room. And that's where they were now.

She sighed and twirled a lock of his hair; it was getting rather long.

"You're nightmare was rather vicious tonight." she said.

"It's fine."

"Sirius, they're getting worse."

"It's only because..."

"Because we're leaving tomorrow?" she wondered quietly.

Sirius was silent. He was brooding an awful lot today and Snape's visit wasn't helping. He had dropped by to tell Harry Dumbledore was ordering Snape to give Harry occlumency lessons. Of course, Snape being Snape he didn't miss his chance to have a go at either Harry or Sirius.

"Don't pay any mind to Snape. He's just trying to get under your skin." She soothed as Sirius started up another round of mutterings.

"I never thought I'd say it but...he's right. I'm hiding away in here like a coward! Everyone else is out there, fighting somehow against Voldemort and I can't do anything! I'm hiding!" he shouted.

Aero placed a silencing ward around her room and turned to look at Sirius who had leapt up and was pacing around the foot of her bed.

"You're not hiding. You've got a price on your head Sirius, you're being reasonable."

"Well there was a time when I would've been out there, Ministry be damned, fighting! It would've been fun!"

"These are new times, Sirius. Times you have to get used to now that you're here. We're the new generation...we get to be the reckless fighters who have no idea what they're doing. You and the others have to be there to guide us, not stand beside us. You have to show us the way. I'm sorry...but Sirius, things are different now. You have to realize this. _You're_ the adult now. Besides, there are certain circumstances that we can't do anything about, like keeping you safe until we can prove your innocence. Until I can get Pettigrew."

"But you're all out there, spying at the Ministry, soon to be fighting Death Eaters, risking your lives and Azkaban time. And I'm in here..."

"You're risking Azkaban time more than we are...you step outside and on spot they'll haul you away. I know it's hard...but don't think of it as hiding. You're really doing just what James and Lily had to do. They had to hide away in a house for Harry, because people were after them. You have to hide away for Harry...and for me, because people are after you."

Sirius sighed and sunk onto her bed.

"Why me...why did everything have to happen...why James...?" he whispered.

"Because you and James are both loyal, brave men. James Potter refused to bend to the will of Voldemort, just like you. Do both do what you have to do to protect the people you love. And right now, staying hiden is protecting Harry. He needs you. He's be destroyed if he lost you."

"And you? Can you honestly still look up to me, to protect you?" he asked.

Aero kneeled on the bed beside him, wrapping her arms around his hunched shoulders.

"I've always been able to look up to you. I've never once thought you a coward. Not once. Not now. Not then. I'd surely be insane if I'd gone through what you did. But you came back to us. And now you're doing what you have to so you can continue to be there. It's not cowardice, Sirius. And...yes. I believed you could protect me then, and I believe you can protect me now. But you have to be here to do that..."

"I'll be here...even if I have to cut Snivillus' tongue out to do it..."

Aero cracked a grin and messed his hair.

"You'll be fine while we're gone." she murmured.

* * *

Ebony Stict sat in the large cold chair, her fingers slightly shaking. Snape sat beside her at the table, Lucius across from them. Various others from her past sat around the table, and the snake looked upon her from the head of it.

"My dear Ebony...I think you've suffered enough for your hesitance to return." a voice drawled.

"My Lord..." she whimpered.

"Now, now Ebony. No need to fear. You're among friends now..." a few sniggers went around the table "And you can tell us anything. I believe a dear friend of yours will be joining us soon...many of our dear friends will be joining us in no time...and I believe there is a present we could deliver to one of them. No?"

Ebony's heart constricted and she met the cold eyes of her son, Owen, as he sat beside Lucius, his head raised and his face void of any emotion. For a fleeting moment she doubted why she was here again...and then she remembered when he had joined and come back home with bruises and gashes, bleeding all over the carpet, begigng her to come back...to join again.

But could she really...she had helped raise that girl. She had vowed to Sirius she wouldn't let her be tarnished...Xoe loved her...could she really...? Snape watched her coldly from the corner of his eye, knowing he wasn't able to say a word outside this meeting, for it would be too obvious.

"Do you hesitate, Ebony?"

"No my Lord!" she gasped.

"Good. Then you shall find when they can reunite, yes?"

"Of course, My Lord..."

"Of course you will...won't she, _Owen_?"

* * *

"Ebony, I'm so glad you could join us for Breakfast." Dumbledore greeted as she sat down at the table.

Indeed, Ebony was thinner, more on edge, and her face was sunken and hair was unkept. Dumbledore felt a pang of sympathy for her. Voldemort was after her, which put her family in danger. Her son was a Death Eater now as well. She was under so much strain, and they couldn't be sure he wouldn't find them. No wonder she was on edge.

"It's a pleasure to be outside the house, Dumbledore." she replied, smiling.

"I'm sure." Molly grumbled.

Ebony eyed her wearily. She and Molly Weasley had come to a confrontation when Aero was in the hospital. Molly suspected she was a traitor, but Ebony managed to assure Dumbledore she was just stressed with the situation, and she played on the 'my child has disowned the family' card with Molly. Molly wasn't entirely convinced, she could tell, but she did seem to sympathize about Owen.

"Are we discussing rounds?" Ebony wondered.

"Yes, we have to assign new rounds. Keep changing them, you know?" Dumbledore mused.

"I see...well I'm concerned about Aero, I mean...I mean she's so wanting to better help the Order, but with school..." Ebony said.

"Yeah, Aero's been wanting to talk to you about that, Dumbledore. She wants to do more. Umbridge is driving her up the walls, it's only a matter of time before she pushes back." Sirius agreed.

"Well she's still a student." Molly argued.

"Student is just a status around here now. She's of age, and a spy at the Ministry already. I mean, these kids, they may very well be students, but they've done more than most Wizards have ever done, all before leaving school. Clearly, they're up to par. You let her do some rounds during school time. Get her away from Umbridge." Sirius rebutted.

"She's still a child." Molly protested.

"Let's not have this argument again. But if Aero really is feeling confined, she will lash out. She's a bit like Sirius in that department I'm afraid." Remus said calmly.

"Oi!"

"B-besides, there's nothing going on much, really. I mean, now they're on the look out for attacks since Arthur, but still...it's not as dangerous yet as the first war...right? So why not let her get her footing now...learn the ways?" Ebony encouraged.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, thoughtful.

"She's still a child, yes, but they're all going to have to grow up quicker than any of us intended...and she won't be questioned, since she works at the Ministry already, if I were to post her there..."

"_Exactly_!" Ebony cried. "Just let her do a few rounds every now and then."

"Alright. Aero and Bill can take a round in about...a week?" Dumbledore said.

"She'll be so happy..." Ebony said quietly.

And she would be...she loved doing work for the Order...only right she should be happy before...

* * *

Aero was ecstatic that she would be doing rounds again, despite how boring rounds themselves were, she was doing something besides sitting around. She could only go after curfew, Dumbledore trusting her to find a way out herself, which she replied "I've _never_ done such a thing".

She nearly laughed when up in the dorm Angelina was in her bed, covered with tissues and her earlobes were swollen and red.

"Good Heavens! What happened to you?" Alicia wondered, eyes wide.

Katie bent over laughing, even wiping an imaginairy tear from the corner of her eye.

"I don't understand...the only thing that does this is Dandelion puff. But how did that get in my earrings?" Angelina sniffled.

"Oh, I remember you telling us about your allergy in first year...I wonder how it got in there." Alicia said.

"Shame. I'm sure the earrings were just _beautiful_." Aero mused.

Angelina nodded, her nose red, as she sneezed again. Alicia jumped.

Aero pulled her hair back, preparing for a good nights sleep.

"What are bose?" Angelina said suddenly, her nose stuffy.

"Excuse you?" Aero asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"On your earbs!"

Aero blanched but inside she was dying.

"I think she means your earrings." Alicia pointed out.

"Ooh, yeah, Fred got them for me for Christmas. Aren't they beaufitul?" she said.

"Aw, adorable. Silver with little red rubbies...business must be good then, hm?" Katie said, examining them.

Angelina had a look of shock on her face.

"Dose are mine!" She cried.

"No. Your earrings were covered in Dandelion Puff, remember? Mine are fine." Aero reminded her.

"Oh, do you mean you have the same earrings? That's funny." Alicia said with an oblivious smile.

Angelina watched her while she tookthem out and set them in her jewelery box.

"Good night." Aero called, closing her curtains.

In truth, she had managed to get out of the house after Christmas and fortunately found some look-alike earrings, just to mess with her.

Now she just had to wait until everyone was sleeping. She pulled out the picture and crept over to Angelina's bedside, her wand in hand, and murmured a spell that George had taught her. They had been experimenting all summer on spells. She watched the stream as her wand glided over the picture. It went and just melted into Angelina's temple. It was like taking out a memory for a pensieve.

She scurried back to bed and when her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep immediatley, a smile firmly planted on her lips.

* * *

Angelina was out of sorts the next morning, that was certain. She wouldn't meet Aero's eyes all day and Goorge reported the same thing. It made their day.

"So what did you do to Angelina?" Katie wondered excitedly as she caught up with Aero the next morning.

"Why nothing." Aero replied innocently.

"Yeah. Sure."

"I'll tell you later. I have a meeting with Umbridge about my investigation." Aero said, rolling her eyes.

"Crazy bint, she's still got you under investigation?"

"Yeah, and from what she tells me, I'm not doing well at all."

"I suppose getting into fights with Slytherins and leaving school early without her permission doesn't work in your favor." Katie said.

"Exactly. But I'm seriously getting tired of having everything I do questioned and examined five hundred times."

"Hang in there, Aer."

They parted ways and Aero went into Umbridge's office, taking a seat and eyeing the pink frill.

"Ladies knock before entering a superior's office." she giggled.

"My apologies." Aero replied.

"We'll discuss your habits later, dear. What I want to ask is there anything you need to tell me, about Sirius Black, for one thing?"

Aero mentally sighed.

"Nothing to report, ma'am."

"You don't know where he is?" she pouted.

"No."

"Well, I've given you your fair chances. Anything that comes out later will hold you in contempt. Now, I believe this meeting is to talk about your place at teh Ministry."

Aero stayed silent.

"You see, Auror Black, your recent actions have been less than...favorable, and your company is concerning. You knowingly associate yourself with blood trait-_ I mean_ traitors of the Ministry. They side with Dumbledore, and therefore against the Ministry. And you don't seem to care. And there is question that you do infact know where Sirius Black is hiding, or more unfortunate, that you're hiding him yourself. I also believe you yourself have fallen into ranks with Albus Dumbledore. And you encourage the lies of Harry Potter."

This did not look good at all...

"Miss Black...your activities and alliances are in question, your attitude is atrocious and you seem to have no regard for authority. I'm not sure there will be a place at the Ministry for you much longer." Umbridge said sweetly, though Aero gave her points for trying not to smile.

"Is that right?" Aero said dully.

"I'm afraid so, dear. It's such a pity, that one as talented and pure as yourself should have to be in this position. I'm sure it's not your fault, you were seduced to do Albus Dumbledore's bidding, convinced by him to believe Mister Potter. Now, if you were to just...tell me, what Dumbledore might be planning against the Minister, I'm sure that all could be..._forgiven_."

"No one can seduce me into doing anything I don't want to do, Professor Umbridge, I assure you of that."

"What a pity...you do know I have a power over you, don't you...Miss _LeStrange_?"

Aero had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming 'don't call me that'.

"I noticed how you changed your name before coming to Hogwarts. Very intelligent decision, I doubt many would take kindly to knowing who your parents are. And I don't think anyone here, your fellow students at least, know who you really are. I think you'd prefer it that way...but it's a sad fact of life, Miss LeStrange, that we cannot always get what we want. What is that saying? Ah yes..."

Umbridge smiled at her, and Aero swear she looked more evil than unsual and fear actually stabbed her heart.

"'_All good things must come to an end'_...Goody-bye, Miss Black."


	32. Chapter 32 Officially off the rails!

**FORWARNING: Do not get mad at me. Do not. I beg you. What happens in this chapter and several chapters afterwards NEEDS to happen. Everyone has a breaking point. It'll be more explained and developed in further chapterts. Some things may seem rushed. They're supposed to be. Some things may seem dark. They're supposed to be. Feel free to review, but don't crazy review, "OMIGOD WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Simply, because it needed to happen for this character. Feel free to message me. **

* * *

Waiting for the end to come;

Wishing I had strength to stand;

This is not what a had planned...

It's out of my control.

Flying at the speed of light...

Thoughts were spinning in my head...

I know what it takes to move on;

I know how it feels to lie;

All I wanna do is trade this life for something new!

Sitting in an empty room, trying to forget the past, this was never meant to last...

**Waiting for the end to come - **_Linkin Park_

* * *

The next morning Aero found out Delores Umbridge meant business. She had severely underestimated that pink toad.

She sat down wearily at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, feeling several pairs of eyes on her. She'd never really known what it was like to come into a room and know everyone was just talking about you. But she did now. She just didn't know why...

"Did you read the Prophet?" Neville muttered, his face white.

She glanced sideways down the table at him and he moved stiffly to sit across from her. He slid the paper to her and she flipped it over as she took a sip of her morning Punpkin juice. And promptly choked on it.

**Mass Breakout From Azkaban Ministry Fears Black is "Rallying Point" for Old Death Eaters.**

She read and reread the title five times, her mind failing to process it. Her hands trembled and gripped the newspaper tightly, so much so the paper itself shook and dug holes into the pages with her fingers. She felt the loss of heat in her body and knew her face must be pale and white as a sheet. Her fingernails changed to white in fear and could feel the tingling of white starting at the roots of her hair.

She shook her head, desperate to stop her fear from showing and just managed to contain her emotional morphing. She glanced up quickly at Neville who was as white as her, his eyes wide and frightened.

With a sinking heart she read the names of the ten escaped convicts. Antonin Dolohov, brought in for the murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett...and Bellatrix LeStrange and Rodolphus LeStrange. Her uncle Rabastan had escaped as well... but if that didn't make things worse...

_We are deeply worried about the safety of the families of the victims. We will catch these criminals but they are highly dangerous and must not be approached. We are currently checking on the victim's relatives that are attending Hogwarts, such as the victims of the LeStranges, Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom's son, Neville, as well as the LeStrange's estranged only child, Aeroanna LeStrange "Black", both of whom are currently attending Hogwarts. _

It was a small printing at the bottom of the page, and Aero just knew...Umbridge had kept her word. She glanced up above the paper and noticed true, not everyone was staring since most didn't read the paper, but some were definatley eyeballing her and Neville, as well as little Susan Bones and certain others that were mentioned father down the article.

"_No_...no, no no." Aero whispered.

She flicked her gaze up to the staff table. Umbridge was shoving her spoon into her mouth, glowering down into her soup, but she put her brooding and wounded pride on hold to meet Aero's frantic gaze and gave her a half-hearted smirk, which had her revenge not come from the Ministry's own mess-up, would've looked much more triumphant. Instead Aero averted her eyes and stared accusingly at the Headmaster of Hogwarts who was in a conversation with McGonagal.

Her lip curled in anger, her fury currently driving the gut-wrenching fear down to dig up later. Dumbledore had told her multiple times, times she now remembered, that her parents were locked away. He had given her three-year old self his word they wouldn't get near her. Well, his word was shite now, wasn't it? Her parents, and eight other escapees just slightly less insane had escaped. And as soon as her mother got the chance Aero would find herself hunted down like common prey. She shook her head, disgust written on her face, and stormed from the Great Hall.

She barely noticed that she shoved into two redheaded beings that gave exclamations of concern as she stalked past them and up the staircase. She snapped the password, completely ignoring the chiding words of the Fat Lady and thundered up the stairs to the dorms, kicking open her door and slamming it shut behind her.

In all honesty she was surprised herself that she wasn't breaking down in tears, hiding under the bed. There was no doubt, her mother was the only thing that scared the ever-livin' out of her. She was the only person who could make her break down on her knees with vomit-inducing horror and completely lose her mind just by thinking about her. Boggarts seemed like the pygmy-puffs the twins were breeding compared to her mother. Voldemort wasn't even that frightening, probably because there wasn't anything extremely personal between them.

She stood in the middle of her room, completely in shock, reeling from the force of the powerful emotions that were currently waging war with one another to be the over-powering emotion. She couldn't decide what she felt more...

The anger that Dumbledore, all powerful Head Master of Hogwarts, allowed such a crime to occur.

Confused, that they had somehow managed to get by the dementors and ministry officials when she knew her friends were looking in on the case.

Terror, that her mother was now a free-convict out in the world, with Voldemort to support her crazy schemes of revenge and bloodshed.

And she ran her trembling hands through her hair, tugging at it. Physical pain, like tearing her hair out by the roots, wound be better than dealing with this emotional-war-fare raging inside her. It's probably why she could withstand the pumpkin-carving of her hand via Delores Umbridge and her devil quils. Because if she thought about it, which she willing was just to distract herself, she'd been stressed for months. Everything always seemed to stack up, and she just seemed to go with it. She in general was a very 'let it be' person, when it came to most things. She didn't lash out, didn't overreact. And the times she broke down...she mentally beat herself to a pulp for being 'weak'. So of course, she'd prefer the fighting a werewolf, being petrified by a giant snake, getting walloped by a well-aimed bludger and carving into her own flesh over and over again than deal with her emotional malfunctions.

It's what Blacks did. They didn't get emotional. The most emotion Sirius ever showed was when James and Lily had died, and even then he held himself together, even if just barely, or when he was having a nightmare, but that was unconciously and uncontrollable. Andromeda withstood her painful, both physically and emotionally, disownment without a single tear. Tonks never allowed a single amount of fear to sway her from the course, never let a single malicious word penetrate her. Narcissa held herself together, never letting her chin drop or eyes swell with tears over anything, always the picture of calm and elegance. Draco himself, though slightly more childish in behavior, rarely let himself be overcome with emotions...unless he was dealing with Harry, and then that was a whole other matter apparrently. So...logically speaking, why would one such as herself, a Black by blood, allow herself to be so overcome by her emotions?

She never used to. She never would've laid in bed for days, catatonic, because of a boy and some common whore. She wasn't raised to be a fragile daisy. She was a Black, and as the rest would say, it was high time she finally started acting like one.

Despite the mind-numbing fear that was creeping on her mind, Aero refused to listen to it. The whispers that her mother would come into her room at night, that her father would beat her to death, that her mother would torture her to insanity like the Longbottoms. She refused. When the time came, she'd be stronger than ever, strong enough to look her mother in the eyes and fight back. She wasn't that weeping willow of a toddler anymore and refused to let her mother reverse her back into one.

Her mind was whirling, her heart thumping at a clearly unhealthy rate, and her eyes were glassed over. She stumbled over her feet at first but managed to allign herself and walked swiftly to her cart. She picked up a bottle of scotch and uncorked it, rushing it to her dry lips and listening to the calming _'swish'_ of the bottle. She walked to the little music-player-machine and flicked it on, searching the songs until she landed on one she and Katie had listened to a few nights ago.

"_I see a red door and I want to paint it black. No colors anymore I want them to turn black_..."

She let her eyes wander, looking for anything to distract herself from the ever-creeping fear that made a chill up her spine. Her eyes caught on Angelina's bed and she determinedly worked through the fog in her mind. Angelina would be a good distraction...but Aero knew herself enough to know she needed more...

She quickly lost count of her bottles and felt a flush on her cheeks. She perked up when she heard voices downstairs and quickly made the bottles disappear with an unsteady flick of her wand. She turned to pick up her bottle of Rum on the floor and spun around so fast she felt her neck crack and raised her wand, a spell aimed at the door.

There was a shriek of surprise and she saw Alicia and Katie make a dive for the ground as Aero's spell, a stupefy, went through the doorway and scortched the hall wall behind them.

"What the bullocks is wrong with you? Have you gone mental?" Katie demanded.

"Katie, please! She's clearly jumpy. I would be too if..." Alicia trailed off, looking uncertainly at her slightly swaying roommate.

Aero arched an eyebrow, a mocking expression on her face.

"If _what_, Leesh? If your mother was a raving lunatic, so stark-ravin' mad she swore she'd hunt down her own kid? Well, _love_, fortunately for your little self, such a circumstance is not yours to behold." Aero remarked, bringing the tinted bottle to her lips, tilting her head back slightly and feeling it run down her throat.

"Aero...are you alright?" Alicia wondered, worried.

"Oh just peachy. _Really_."

"You know, it might have to do with the way you're acting or the stench of booze in the air, but I somehow don't completely believe you." Kaite said.

"Well, that's your problem, not mine. I'm off then." Aero said, giving them a hazed look before quickly flitting out the door.

She ignored the look of shock on her roommates' faces. It barely registered in her mind. Barely anything was registering right now, and she liked it. If she didn't think about anything, she didn't think about her escapee mother. She had felt horrible many times before, but none of those feelings came close to how sickening it was to feel such raw fear. Fear of the past. Fear of her own blood. Fear of her own mind.

She'd find any distraction she could. Grasp anything, just to hold on to _something_. She couldn't help but shake her head in disgust with herself. She used to have this all sorted out. No emotions meant she never got attached, she never had to deal with such tedious complications. She had control. She had control over her thoughts, her actions, herself and everyone around her. And then...somewhere along the line, she allowed herself to be swayed. A different kind of swaying that she was doing right now as she tilted into the wall as she rounded the corner...

She didn't remember when she got swayed from the course. When she started losing control. Maybe when she befriended Angelina...or maybe when she got attatched to the twins? She had no idea. But she didn't like it. She really should have seen this train-crash coming years ago. Of course, it was obvious now, then again everything is in hindsight.

Emotions. Attachments. They both let people control them, control her. It was like she had allowed people to pull her strings, like she was a puppet. They could make her, break her, heal her, scar her. Manipulation. Control via emotional warfare. She had understood that concept once upon a time. Damn twins...they were so open and happy-go-lucky all the bloody time...not that she hated that. No no. But...could she afford such a weakness?

In all reality, emotions or no emotions, she had allowed herself a defensless spot inside her, a weak point. Something her mother would pick up on the second she took notice of her again. Bellatrix would use the twins against her. She couldn't touch Harry, no he was Voldemort's, but Neville...the twins. Fred. Selena and Shane and Desarie...she had gained weaknesses through the years. Her mother would use them against her...

Aero frowned. If they got hurt...because of her...

"Looking for something, shortstack?"

She blinked several times, pearing up at a familiar face. She hadn't even realized...

"You look like you need a break." Darius stated.

"Heard about what happened. Tough break." Dean said, shutting their dorm door behind him.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously up at him as she moved to sit against his headboard, taking a swig from the bottle still in her hands.

"You read the prophet?" she asked skeptically.

"Read the prophet? We don't even read our homework." Darius scoffed.

"No. We heard. People love their gossip." Dean replied.

"Ah. So it's already around school?" Aero said with a disgruntled sigh.

"'Fraid so, cupcake. Now, why don't we get to the bottom of why you came a'knockin on our door. Not..." Darius said, shooting her a grin "that we mind."

"What this pillock is saying- "Dean started, shoving Darius to the floor with an _oomf_! "- is that we want to help you."

Aero gave a short, dry, sarcastic laugh.

"_Help_? No one can help."

"Au contraire, my sweet. We have many methods of helping those in need. Now. Pick your medication." Darius said, shooting up and pulling his trunk around in front of her.

He lifted up the top, raising his eyebrows tauntingly.

She peered curiously into the dark wooded trunk. She glanced up, both boys grinning madly, and reached her hand in.

* * *

The music was loud, blaring from the little magical system in the corner. The vulgar lyrics that would make the adults in her life cringe made Aero feel like dancing, something she never did. But she was at that moment, hand running backwards through her hair, her head tilted back, eyes closed and grin on her lips as she leaned against the hard, warm and tall body behind her.

Large, calloused hands gripped her hips, one momentarily leaving to pluck the Skin from between his lips and transfer it to hers. Her head was on cloud nine, her heart beating wildly. She took no notice to the fact the room was filled with smoke, the lights off, the fact the man behind her was only in his school slacks and she in her underwear and white school shirt.

She glanced over lazily to Darius who was currently in his bed with some fifth year girl who was screaming, though a satisfied smirk was on her face as she tossed her definately bleached hair over her shoulder. Dean, who was behind Aero, was directing them both to the liqour cabinet, rifling through the many bottles and handing her her very own.

Aero swayed her hips, her bare feet sliding easily on the floor, the bottle raised over her head.

"You are so out of control!" Dean shouted over the music with a proud grin.

"I'm completely off the rails!"

"Welcome to life!" Darius shouted as he flipped his partner over.

And the life was wonderful. She hadn't had a single thought about her mother, her responsibilities, the expectations or fear. Nothing. Right then, nothing mattered but the next hit, if Dean would stop hogging the blunt. She knew Fred was probably looking all over for her, but right then, he was a reminder of the weakness she allowed herself to have. Fred was a weakness that her mother would see first. Maybe if she convinced herself she didn't need him as much as she thought, then it would convince her mother and Bellatrix would prush past him in her mad hunt?

Dean put his arm around her waist, gripping her to him, and his fingers danced at the edge of her shirt. And Aero couldn't bring herself to care...she didn't care about anything. She felt like she was fucking floating, and couldn't bother to drag herself back to the currently unsteady ground of her life with the thought of relationship-do's-and'don'ts.

"Stay here tonight..." Dean murmured, his lips against her ear.

"Mhhmm." she said, closing her eyes and bringing the next bottle to her lips.

"Let me help you...stay here."

"Fred..."

"You can always see him tomorrow. You need to take care of yourself first..."

"Mhhmm..."

"He can't understand..." his lips against her throat.

"Mhm."

"Let me be your distraction." His lips at her collarbone.

"_Uhhh_."

"You don't have to be anything here." the first button of her shirt opened.

"Or anyone." the second button.

"You're allowed to be as numb as you want..."_ the third_...

Numb. That's what she was. _Numb_.


	33. Chapter 33 All We Are

**I do apologize, I really do, because I know most of you were all ready for some happy, Fred-Aero stuff, and really, they do deserve to be happy together, and at some point, sometime soon, I assure you they will be. It's practically written in stone. There's just a little bit more drama to go. At least, for now. Obviously, they'll be more. Because I LOVE drama. It's fun :) But they will be together...but some things have to happen first.**

**And I know some of you think she's reacting, like Grow Up Aero, but it's not that she's immature or childish or anything...she's...I don't know exactly, losing her mind? Her mother induces this kind of fear in her, so instead of feeling that fear, she's running away from it, but shutting down. If she shuts herself down, she can't feel the fear, but then if she does that...she can't really feel anything, can she? It's a side of Aero that's been practically dormant for awhile now, but it needs to come out. Besides...Aero spends her time saving other people. Isn't it about time someone tries to save her? **

* * *

Lord knows I failed you, time and again, but you and me are alright...

We won't say our goodbyes, you know it's better that way

We won't break we, won't die, it's just a moment of change

All we are, all we are is everything that's right

I walked a minute in your shoes, they never would've fit. I figured there's nothing to lose, I need to get

some perspective on these words, before I write them down.

All we need is a lover's alibi...

**All we need** - _One Republic_

* * *

Nowhere. She was nowhere. But she had to be somewhere. It just wasn't somewhere with him. And he knew that...he knew why. He knew she was self-destructing, it's what she did. She tried so hard not to break, she tried so hard, but he knew she had broken. The minute he saw her mother's name in the paper he knew...he knew she was gone, he wasn't going to find her until she wanted to be found, but that was killing him. The waiting. The wondering. The worrying. Was she alright? Was she hurt? Who was she with? Where was she? Why wouldn't she just let him in?

He had never pushed it. Or, tried not to. He regretted the times he pushed her away and shouted at her when he really should've just held her. She was constantly telling him they were from different worlds. That he wouldn't understand. And he'd plead with her to tell him, make him understand what she was thinking, what she was feeling, but she said it was impossible. He didn't understand why she couldn't just talk to him.

So he sat on the steps, elbows resting on his knees and head in his hands as the staircase moved under him. He was lost. He'd never felt so helpless in his life. George tried to comfort him, tried to tell him to find her, he knew her better than anyone. Was that true? Did anyone really know Aero, the way she worked and thought and felt, or just knew the things she wanted them to know? He silently cursed himself for not knowing where she'd be. But it was hard to be one step ahead of this girl.

A hand touched his shoulder gently and Fred jumped a bit, snapping his head up to look around him and saw Dumbledore. The old man looked at him somberly and sank to the stone stairs beside him. Classes were in session, so they were clear of other students and teachers.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir, I know I should be in class but I just can't...I can't..."

"I know, my boy. Love is such a complicated thing."

Fred stared glumly at the stairs in front of him.

"I don't think this has anything to do with love, Sir." Fred murmured.

"Of course it does." Dumbledore said simply. Fred glanced up at him, confused. "This has everything to do with love."

"How so?"

"I've watched students as they took their first steps into this school and taken their last steps out. I've seen many romances bloom and many fade. I've been given the honor to watch you all grow from curious children to wise young adults, giving me new hope for the future. That includes you and Ms. Black. I've seen you two form a love story with heart so pure I've only read of in books. You love for each other is so strong. You've overcome so many obstacles, hit rough patches along the journey, and healed from each other with each other." Dumbledore said quietly.

Fred had turned to face his Headmaster now, hanging on every word.

"But how can we have such a love when she doesn't want me to find her?" he asked.

"Is it really that she doesn't want you to find her, or wants to see if you can?" Dumbledore inquired in reply.

Fred blinked and opened his mouth bu found no response.

"But alas, Mr. Weasley, true love, the rarity that it is, is not the only love. Where do you think you'd be without the love of your parents? Without their guiding hands and secure embraces? Where would you be, in your heart, if you didn't know you always had a place to go home to, that wanted and accepted you, because the people there unconditionally loved you?"

"I'd be nothing without my parents, I know that for a fact." Fred said firmly.

"It never mattered how many fights you had with them, how you differed on views, or what you said to them, correct? They love you for your perfections and your flaws, for your individuality and your passion, as every parent does. And that is the nurturing love of parents. Every child desires it, if only a part of them, for just the sentimentality of it. Now imagine you had never felt the warm love of your mother and father. Imagine if you grew up, through all yours years, needing a parent and knowing they didn't have that love for you."

Dumbledore looked at him somberly. Fred felt a pang in his chest. His family was his world, there was nothing more important than family. His parents drove him absolutely mental but he loved them for it. He knew they knew that. He knew they loved him aw well. They made sure each and every one of their children knew that, that they walked out the door knowing no matter what they were loved. And to be without that...

"That'd be horrible..."

"Ms. Black grew up with that life style. I've known her since she was a toddler, and I saw the beginning of the damage then, and regret the fact I didn't stop it. I thought Ebony and Sirius would be enough...but Sirius was taken away and Ebony struggled with her own family, and Narcissa was less than accepting of Aero's views on things, unfortunately. And now her mother is out, the very person who frightens her the most. I believe it's safe to assume that nothing can compare to the pain of knowing her mother is free. And Bellatrix...Bellatrix had made it clear, that her daughter was the bane of her existence. To know that, and have that fear that her own mother could hate her that much, to promise she'd come after her...she must feel isolated and afraid, because she believes no one could possibly understand her situation, especially you, having met your family. I couldn't imagine..." Dumbledore said, his voice quiet and gentle.

Fred felt himself wanting to just find her and hide her from the rest of the world. He'd never felt more protective in his life than he did right then. He had never...he had never truly understood before, but hearing it out loud...made it all the more real and clear. He felt himself breaking for her...

"How do I find her...?" he whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

"You know her better than anyone, even if you don't realize it. Don't think, just feel. Where would she hide?"

Fred closed his eyes...just closed his eyes. He remembered the time Aero had hid from the world, when her broke her himself..._and who she hid with_.

Fred jumped up, heart beating fast.

"Professor I have to -"

"Go, Mr. Weasley. I do believe she needs you." Dumbledore said kindly, smiling softly.

"Professor...thank-you."

"It was no trouble at all, Mr. Weasley. And please inform Ms. Black she's been excused from all classes."

Fred absently nodded and ran up the stairs as fast as his feet could carry him. His shoes pounded against the floor as she charged to the Portrait and panted the password, launching himself inside and heading up the boy's staircase. His heart was beating faster and faster and he prayed time would hurry up and get him there already. His heart practically cried in relief when he came upon the door and he skidded to a halt, turning the knob throwing it wide.

"Oi! Whatt'ya think you're doin'?" a voice cried.

Fred flicked his wand from his pocket and the lights came on. He paid no mind to the bottles on the ground, he just focused on the small form huddled in the corner of the room nursing a half-empty bottle of Rum with her hair falling into her face in her underpants and bra. Her body trembled, he could see that from the doorway. He ran over to her, crouching beside her and she jumped, looking up at him with red-rimmed eyes and smudged make-up.

"Fred..." she said faintly.

"I need you to come with me, Aer." he whispered, gently brushing knotted hair from her face.

Her eyes, the eyes he'd often find himself just staring into, widened and she shook her head.

"No...no, go away Fred."

"I'm not leaving you."

"No, Fred..."

"_I'm. Not. Leaving. You_."

Aero stared at him, seemingly searching his face for something.

"Oi, mate, she said no." Dean said from the bed.

"Well, _mate_, considering she's my grilfriend and you're half-naked in a room with her while she's vulnerable, I'd shut your mouth before I show you the art of shoving one's nose to the back of their head." Fred said, narrowing his eyes.

"Why don't you come over here and make me?" he challenged, standing up.

Fred stood, standing in front of Aero as if shielding her, and simply stared up at the taller boy. Dean seemed to think he wasn't going to do anything and turned to go back to the bed, smirking. Fred glared at his retreating form and felt Aero's knee fall and touch his ankle. And then his hand struck out, clasping onto the boy's massive shoulder and pulled his fist back as he spun Dean around and took a second of satisfaction of the look of shock that crossed his face before his clenched fist connect with a crack and Dean hit the ground, whacking his head on the side of his bed.

Fred crouched, quickly unbuttoning his shirt and sliding Aero's arm's through it before he tossed the bottle from her hand and picked her up in his arms. She made sounds of protest and squirmed in his arms as she left the room, instead bringing them to his own. He closed the door behind them and Aero stumbled out of his arms, clutching his shirt around her, staring angrily at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"I could ask you the same thing." he said.

"You had _no_ right -"

"I love you. That gives me every right."

She abruptly shut her mouth, glowering up at him.

"I don't need you to come crashing in and save me." she said.

"So you'd rather sit in a dark corner and drink your problems away? Aero, even if the booze help you for the moment, when you sober up again...they're still going to be there. Probably worse." he said gently.

"What do you know about it?" she said in reply, rolling her eyes and turning her back to him.

"I've recently gained some persepective...Aero you're free-falling and you're crazy if you think I'm not going to catch you."

"Why..?"

"Because you're broken...you're so broken right now..."

She spun to face him. This time, her eyes were wet.

"If I'm so broken, what makes you think you can fix me?" she whispered harshly.

Fred stepped forward and crushed her to his chest, cradeling her there, hand on the back of her head and felt her weakly push against him.

"Because I have to. I have to fix you because I love you. I love you so much, and I know sometimes it may not seem that way...I've been a blind idiot when it comes to you, but my eyes have been opened...I love you and I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. My love isn't conditional, Aero, and I'm sorry if I made you feel that it was. I take you as you are and love every bit of you, even when you're shouting at me. I love you. That's it...so don't hide from me..._please_." he begged.

He felt startled when something wet touched his chest and he had to take a moment to realize she was crying. He held her tighter to him, just wishing words would be enough to help her through this, even though he knew it wasn't.

"..._I'm scared_." she whispered, her voice hushed and just a breath against his skin.

He felt her legs give out and he brought them both to the floor and leaned against the wall beside the door. He shifted her into his lap and clutched her to him.

"I know...but I _promise_, as long as I'm breathing, she won't touch you." he vowed, his face pressed against her head.

Aero stared blankly in front of her, her head resting on his bare shoulder, the tears running like rain down her face as he fingers bit into his skin and her body trembled.

"People make a lot of promises, Fred..." she whispered.

"And I always keep mine."

Aero was silent for a moment and he was content to just hold her.

"She could kill you...Fred she'll kill and I couldn't...I couldn't take it -"

"Shh...shhhh...you don't think about that. Don't worry about me. Don't worry about you. You and me? We can take care of ourselves...you're not some little girl she can kick around anymore Aero...you're a fighter, a survivor..." he told her firmly, his fingers skimming the claw scars on her arm.

She sniffled and he ran a soothing hand on her ran. He placed a kiss on her shoulder and laid his head on the back of her neck.

"We'll be just fine..._I promise_."

* * *

**I know it's short. But I'll have the next chapter up really quick, maybe even by tonight.**


	34. Chapter 34 Tonight of all nights

**Did you know...That FH has 93 chapters and 414 reviews...but PH has (not including this) 33 chapters and 442 reviews? Nmfjkhgdhfjgs I love you guys! You have to be the best, most patient and amazing people in the world to put up with me for this long. I adore all of you, really, despite the fact I don't know any of you really, but I adore you. XD **

**And for those who liked Dean...I like Dean too. Fred and Dean are both just trying to take care of Aero in the ways they know how. Dean = escaping reality. Fred = focusing on the good stuff **

**And I found this song, **Matt Nathanson - _FASTER_**, which I've been listening to for Fred and Aero recently... **

**...and did anyone go to the Premiere? Jeebus, I had a news crew at ours. And I thought I had missed my chance, you know? I was late, they sold out two weeks before but I had a weird feeling and checked again like..two days before the Prem. and got tickets! And a friend and me walked up to a cinema worker, like which line is ours? and he's all 'well you guys are inside' and I. **_Died_**. Last minute tickets and WE end up inside? Near the front of the line too. Gobstoppers, I'm good :) So how did you guys like it? I was slightly dissatisfied at the ending...**SPOILER?**where the holy fuck was Teddy? And is James a mute or something? He said nothing...nor did Lily.**

* * *

Nothing could have gotten her out of her room. She wanted to stay in there and hide under the bed like a child again, away from all the monsters and demons that were currently circling her like they were spinning around the bathtub drain. She would've rather been under the bed, in the dark, with imaginairy monsters than the real ones. And nothing could've moved her from her perch under the bed...except for the look on Fred's face as he brought about the topic of Valentines' Day.

He looked so anxious, like he was resigning himself for her to say no and stay locked in one of their dorm rooms, yet still hoping there'd be enough sanity, just a shred left, that would give her the courage to go outside. And she was always a pushover when it came to Fred being unhappy, because Fred and George were both people who were probably born with mad cackles at a joke pulled in the womb and grins upon there faces while the normal babies cried and it always seemed unnatural for them to ever frown. And by God, she was a Gryffindor and needed to start acting like it. She refused to believe she was placed in the house of Gryffindor as some cosmic joke on her family.

So she had gotten out of bed, determidly taking a nice long shower, put on her make-up and got dressed. She even took special care to do her hair for the occassion. Katie was excited she was going to Hogsmeade, unaware of her latest mental breakdown, while Alicia hovered like the mother-hen she was. Aero caught Alicia's worrying glances frequently.

"Are you sure you want to go out?" Alicia asked for the, _literally_, fifth time.

"Yes, Leesh, I'm fine." Aero replied, facing the mirror and putting on her eyeliner.

"Are you postive because you don't have to -"

"_Alicia Spinet_, the girl is fine. She's up and about, talking like a civilized being and going out on a date, which is about time if you ask me. You and Fred aren't really date-doing people are you?" Katie said, turning from the selected possible outfits that hung in the air around her.

Aero shrugged in response. She jumped violently when Angelina knocked over a book from her night table. Alicia threw Aero a concerned look and Angelina winced, looking at Alicia apologetically. Despite recent events it seemed Angelina, like the rest of their dorm mates, went out of their ways to try and not startle Aero today.

"I really don't think it's a good idea..." Alicia muttered softly to herself.

Katie chose to ignore her.

"You're both such strong people, especially personality wise. You practically demand attention just by walking into a room and neither one of you are simple-minded people, and yet your relationship always seems so...simple. You don't seem to ever bitch at him for things, and he doesn't pretend like he owns you, and you barely ever fight like normal couples over normal everyday things...though I suppose you make up for that by practically having the Cold War enter Hogwarts when you _do_..." Katie ammended.

"Are you going to scrutinize everything today?" Aero wondered, her tone quiet and mellow, as it had been for the past few days.

"Well, not everything. I'm just looking closer at you and Fred. It's my job as best friend to make sure you're being taken care of properly." Katie said firmly, turning back to look thoughtfully at her outfits.

What she really meant was to make sure Fred wasn't going to make her go mental again, Aero thought.

She really was grateful that everyone was trying to help her in their own little ways. Dean offered her an escape, Fred offered her protection, Alicia hovered but didn't smother, Katie was supportive of everything, Angelina backed off, George and Lee were the resident feel-good comedians, Harry and Neville were doting, Ginny and Hermione took her mind off things for brief moments with Ginny's tales of Boyfriend-stories and Hermione's academic woes dotted with a little bit of Ronald Weasley frustrations. Everyone else, like Ron and Darius and whoever Ginny was dating and Harry's friend Dean Thomas just made sure no one brought anything painful into conversation, not that she was around anyone else much. She'd occassionally enter the common room for a change of scenery, or to get away from the Pygmy-breeding grounds that were going on in the boy's room. She got several stares, she was sure, as not everyone was supportive of her being the product of Death Eaters, but no one said anything, which she was thankful for. From what she was told, while some may not like her parents, they felt better knowing they weren't the only ones afraid of them...

"I'm proud of you for venturing outside the Gryffindor walls though." Katie said.

"Yeah...what an achievment." Aero replied.

Alicia went to put a hand on her shoulder, no doubt for comfort, but Aero hunched her shoulders, quickly stepping just out of reach.

* * *

Katie and Alicia weren't allowed out, since Angelina wanted all day training for Quidditch, but Katie was promising to sneak out afterwards, because she was apparrently meeting up with Wood, who she was dating again. Aero thought she'd never met a more fickle girl...

The weather was warmer, so Aero wore a white short sleeve shirt with a black artistic design on the front and a thin black vest that went a little past her hips on the sides of it, just like the shirt, slightly covering her small black shorts. Underneath she had fishnet stockings and black heeled boots beaded with silver that went just below her knee and a lace-up black writst cuff on one hand.

Fred was dressed in washout jeans, an untucked purple dress shirt with the sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up to his elbows. He was looking at the Daily Prophet as they walked.

"Diagon Alley seems like an appropriate shop place, doesn't it?" he asked uncertainly.

Aero nodded.

"Are you thinking of buying a place there?" she asked quietly.

Fred nodded this time, shooting her another anxious glance. It was like if she wasn't talking, then he'd get worried, and even when she was talking he was afraid she'd break down again.

"There are some places open, and what with Harry's generous donation..." he said.

"What kind of place would you be looking for?"

"Something where we can live above it, you know? Like, after work we can just go up the stairs and our place is there. Because we can't keep living at our mum's forever." he stated.

"True. You know she'll blow a blood vessel when she finds out." Aero mused softly.

Fred grinned.

"Aw, she'll get over it, once she sees how amazing it will be."

The back of one of his hands that was by his side brushed the back of Aero's and the sudden contact made her flinch horribly and Fred apologized profusely. Aero rebuffed his attempts to apologize for simply touching her hand by accident, it wasn't that big of a deal, she was just edgy.

"So...are you going to stay with Sirius, after we graduate and everything, or...getting your own place? Because well...George and I were thinking...you could you know, if you wanted to, because we you know, wouldn't mind, if you uhm...moved in with us when we got our own place..." Fred said as they entered the Hogshead.

Aero quietly greeted Aberforth who grunted his aknowledgment. She sat down at a far table, looking at her chipping nailpolished fingers.

"I'll be staying at Grimmauld place, I suppose..." she murmured.

"Oh?"

"Just you know...for Sirius. And Remus is living there, I know, but I don't want to just...leave him, you know? Not until I'm sure he can take care of himself..."

"Well...who's going to take care of you?" Fred asked tentatively.

Aero stiffened and frowned down at the stained table top, running a silver ring around her knuckles.

"I can take care of myself." she muttered.

"No. Not right now."

"I'll be fine by graduation." she insisted.

"Will you? How do you know that?"

"I'm not some infant that needs someone to look after it every time it even has to go to the bathroom." she snapped, her eyes flashing as she glared up at him.

"I _know_ that. But I have reason to worry about you, Aero. Not only are you yourself a bit unstable right now, but you've got a madwoman after you..." Fred said.

Aero scowled and Fred reached across the table slowly, so as not to startle her again, and covered her tiny hands with his own.

"What did Dumbledore say about your status in the Order when you met with him two nights ago?" Fred wondered quietly.

Aero glanced at Aberforth who turned his face down to the messy bartop when she caught his lingering eyes on her table.

"He said...he said I'd need to take a break, I can still do recon but...I was supposed to go with Bill, and the date got pushed back, he had a meeting about it and everything at Headquarters, about some Ministry changeup or something, so he pushed out recon date back to this month, it's in a few days, but Bill and I got reassigned, because I assured him I'd be back to normal by then, so we'll be going in a few days...Dumbledore says I can get out then, he can cover for me with Umbridge, I'll be leaving at night..." she said.

"I'm not sure you should be going out so soon..." Fred sighed.

Aero shrugged.

"It's recon, Freds, not a battle. We're simply making sure no one gets in..."

"I don't suppose you can tell me anything about what you're actually doing?" Fred asked, hopeful smile on his face.

Aero's lips twitched slightly.

"_No_." she replied.

"That's so cold..."

"Aw.."

She reached a hand up, the bracelet on her wrist clinking, and laid her palm against his cheek, a mocking smirk, though small and feeble, lit her face and Fred's heart thudded just a millisecond quicker at the sight of it. He leaned into her touch, the rare bits of gentle affections affections she gave always made his heart swell just a little.

The pad of her thumb brush over his cheek, just under his eye.

"I'm sorry I'm being so difficult..." she murmured.

"I'm happy to take care of you for once." He said gently.

She smiled softly, her eyes sad.

"You can't be strong all the time, Aer...it's not human." he murmured.

She shook her head, her eyes closed, and a single tear ran down her cheek. Fred leaned slowly over the table, her hand was still on his face and followed his movement, and his own cradeled her face between them and he pressed his lips to hers, slow, gentle and sweet. He leaned back a little, just looking at her as she opened her eyes.

"I've put you through so much...I come with so much baggage..." she whispered tearfully.

"It's all worth it if I get to be the one to make you smile." he replied honestly.

She searched his eyes and shook her head just slightly.

"..._how are you even real?" _

* * *

Of course, the date having gone well, they ended up back at Fred's dorm, hidden behind his curtains. Unlike their usual shaggings, this one was less shag, more like, Aero hated the term, but more like making love than anything else. It wasn't rushed or desperate. Not in the slightest. It was slow and gentle and almost like Fred was afraid to be anything _but_ gentle with her, but Aero didn't complain, it was a nice change.

They were dressed by the time George and Lee came back up, bragging of their Hogsmeade findings and purchases. Fred immediatley joined the conversation, idly playing with a strand of Aero's hair. Vaguely Aero remembered something of Harry and Cho having their first date and excused herself, going to check on him.

As usual, she didn't knock on the dorm door and walked right in, hearing Seamus' exclamation and Neville's yelp of surprise.

"Oh shut up, honestly." she said, rolling her eyes.

"What're you doing up here?" Neville asked, shoving a shirt over his head.

"Looking for the other young charge I happen to be guiding through life. Happen to know where he might be?" Aero asked.

"Uhm, I just left him and Hermione down at dinner." Neville said.

"Wonderful. I'll wait for him to come up then." she said, throwing herself onto Neville's bed which he unsuprisingly neglected to make.

"In-in _here_?" Seamus asked, looking around the room.

Aero arched an eyebrow.

"No...up in the Owlery. Uh, _yeah_, in here, Finnegan."

"Don't get snarky with me. This is my room." he said, standing straighter and puffing out his chest.

Aero gave him a dull look.

"What's your point?"

Dean Thomas gave a laugh when Seamus looked deflated and Neville just shook his head, pulling out his Potions book and plopping himself onto his bed, Aero rolled over and he put it down in between them with a bit of parchment.

"Snape gave you quite the assignment." she mused.

"Help?" he asked.

She sighed mockingly and took his quil from his hand, briefly writting most of the assignment.

"That'll get you a solid decent mark, at the most. Snape tends to hate you, so don't think you'll be getting good marks." she warned him after a moment.

"I'm horrible at potions." Neville muttered.

"Nah, Snape just hates your ever-liven' guts. Welcome to the club. Besides, you're a very good wizard, you just lack confidence is all." she said with a shrug.

"_Confidence_?"

"You'd be surprised what a good level of confidence can do in magic."

Neville shrugged and looked at the parchment.

"So uhm..." he casted a look at Seamus who was busily searching through his trunk for something and looked about ready to fall in and Dean was was in the bathroom " how have you been doing lately?" he asked.

"Absolutely terrific."

"Aero."

"Neville."

Said boy cast her a disbelieving look mixed with a twinge of a sense of knowing. Aero shifted her gaze, avoiding his.

"Talk to me." he said.

"Nothing to talk _about_, Nev."

"You can try to shut it all up all you want, but you can't hide it from yourself. You're just as terrified as I am, if not more."

She slid him a dull, wondering look with a frown.

"You don't have to be terrified, Neville."

"And why is that?"

"Well obviously, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." she stated.

Neville shifted slowly, letting her constantly cautious eyes catch every movement, and slid into her view, right in front of her.

"My sentiments exactly, sister dear."

* * *

"My Lord...they've...they've changed the date of the patrol. Aero Black and William Weasley are assigned to guard the outter doors of the Ministry in two days time before moving further inward to guard the doors of the Department of Mysteries, where they will be relieving Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks." Ebony murmured, her head bent and her knotted black hair fell into her face.

"Why have they changed that date?" Voldemort wondered softly.

"B-because the Aurors in the Order reported tighter Ministry security since the catching of Sturgis Podmore and the wounding of Arthur Weasley in the area, My Lord. They're suspicious, but the Order has reorganized and planned around it. They believe you will try again to have someone enter the grounds. They have their own tight security..."

"Dumbledore, always suspicious..." Voldemort mused darkly.

Ebony shuddered, hunched in her seat. She was truly disgusted with herself. She was so easily giving up the girl she had come to think of as a daughter. Disgusted with her betrayal. Memories of the girl growing up constantly plagued her mind, not giving her a moment of rest. She was edgy and jumpy and thankfully Dumbledore brushed it aside as her fright of being captured by the Dark Lord...little did he know he once again had a spy on his hands.

Peter, the first spy, sat further down the table, looking like the rat he was. Snape was sitting stiffly in his chair as always, still unable to provide Dumbledore with any information regarding Ebony's betrayal. Perhaps he wasn't trying because he hated Aero herself, or to get revenge on Sirius, but somehow Ebony couldn't believe that. Severus was many things, but inhumane was not one. Aero was a young girl, a child compared to him, and had nothing to personally wrong him besides sharing a relationship with his school days enemy.

Her own son, the reason for her betrayal, sat across from her, beside Aero's ex Vaine, a satisfied smile on his face. When had she lost her innocent little boy and gained this cold man? But never the less...he would always be her son. And a mother had to do what was best for her children...

"Then you shall strike then, my friends, and be reunited with your offspring once again...in two days time." Voldemort murmured, a long thin and pale finger brushing the top of Nagini's head affectionatley.

A delighted cackle sent a shiver down Ebony's spine.

* * *

"I don't know if we should finish this year up, Georgie." Fred said.

"What? We'd skip out and start up the shop? Mum'd have a Hippogriff." George said as he stretched out on his bed.

Lee snored away on his bed on the far side of the room, uncomfortable strewn across it and George was positive he'd wake up with a sore back and briefly wondered if he should move him.

"She's going to have one anyways, what with us getting the shop in the first place." Fred reasoned.

"True. I can't believe she honestly thinks we'd do well working for the Ministry." George scoffed.

Fred shook his head in agreement.

"Definatley not. Especially after how they've treated Aero and how they managed to turn our own brother against the whole family." Fred grumbled.

George nodded, frowning.

"You think it'd be better on Mum if we just do it now? Or do you think it'd be better for her to finish the year?" George wondered.

Fred sighed and thought about it. Neither of them wanted to unnecessarily upset their mother. They knew she wanted them to do exceptional in school and head to work at the Ministry. But they both knew they weren't the types to sit behind a desk and file paperwork and deal with suits and they knew they didn't have the attention spans to deal with looking after captured dark wizards or the patience to deal with Superiors like Aero had to with being an Auror. The only reasonable job for them was the Joke Shop.

"How about...we give it some time. If we can't take it anymore, then we'll split and officially open the shop." George said finally.

"I agree."

"And what did Aero say to our proposal?" George asked.

Fred gave a tired groan and shoved his head briefly into his pillow before rolling on his back.

"She wants to stay at Sirius' place." Fred grumbled.

"Understandable, really. I mean, he's practically the only family she has left. That and Tonks' family, and Tonks' drops by the place often enough to really see her every day, along with Sirius, when Aero gets out of school. It makes sense that after being the black sheep in the family for so long she'd want to spend some quality time with the other black sheeps." George said.

"See, now why can you so easily come up with that answer? She's _my_ girlfriend and yet you understand her better than me." Fred grunted.

"Because you read too much into everything, Fred. I have a sense of perspective, because I'm not as involved. Your head gets fogged up, I have a clear mind. What? Did you think she just didn't want to live with you?"

When Fred didn't reply George peeked over at his twin.

"I'm positive that's not what she was implying. I mean, you two practically live together now, always being together and whatnot. She just wants to stay with family as long as she can. Don't take it personally."

Fred sighed.

"I know...now that you say it, it makes the most sense. But what if she says she forgives me for everything, yet she really hasn't? What if she doesn't want to live with me because she doesn't trust me anymore? I wouldn't blame her..."

"Why would you think that?"

"She told me she doesn't want to get married..."

"Are you sure she ever did?"

Fred sat up on his elbows and looked hard at his twin.

"What makes you think she didn't?"

George shrugged, laying on his back and turning his head to look at Fred.

"I'm just saying...you're the type of person who would love to just jump right into marriage, take all the risks and the committment. Aero seems more 'lone wolf' to me, like putting a lable on your relationship wouldn't be her thing. I mean, you guys never really got excited about planning the wedding when you _were_ engaged, Mum was the one planning everything."

Fred looked down at his blankets.

"I just..." he trailed off.

"I know, Fred. If you got married, you'd feel like you had some sort of promise you wouldn't lose her. But a little piece of gold and a paper don't keep people tied together. Now, I'm pretty sure you two are in it for the long hall, even if that doesn't include marriage and 2.5 kids. And Freddie..." George said, turning on his side to look seriously at his frowning double.

"Try to remember...we're entering a serious war here, mate. I know it doesn't make you feel good to think about it but...eventually this 'calming' period will pass and people will be full out dying. People we know...people we know will die, just like how it was with the first Order. But you also have to think about the fact that not only could you lose friends and fellow students...but Aero as well. Think about it -" George said more firmly when Fred flinched and turned his gaze away defiantly " - Aero has practically got a price on her head, thanks to her parents. And she's a damn good fighter, it's how she can survive being an Auror...but being and Auror, plus being in the Order means things are going to be dicey for her when things get going. She's going to be put out on the front lines, having people fire at her left and right, and she'll get hurt and you'll be scared shitless every time she walks out that door or doesn't show up _exactly_ at the time she said she would. And reality is going to hit you like a ton of bricks."

"What's your point, George?" Fred said gruffly.

George sighed, his eyes somewhat softening in the only way he did with Fred. "I'm just saying...don't force her into this relationship thing you've got in your head. You guys aren't exactly textbook relationships anyways, but...take what you can from her. She may not like to get married, and all that jazz, and I'm just telling you...don't push her away because she isn't going to do it your way, to your fantasy. Take what you can get, because the harsh reality of it is, brother, you have no idea how much time you two truly have."

* * *

Fred was anxious about that night. Aero was going on assignment with Bill that night. He was not only worried about her but his eldest brother, thinking that they'd be attacked just like his father and he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if...

He kept thinking what if something happened and this time Harry didn't have a vision of it? His dad only managed to live after his attack because Harry saw it happen as it happened and immediately told Dumbledore. What if he didn't see it and something happened? What if they didn't come back? He knew it was just recon and scouting and whatnot, but still...it left his stomach unsettled.

"You don't really have to go tonight." Fred said for the hundreth time that night.

Lee and George had stayed up in the dorm and the couple was alone in the common room. Aero sighed in return, rechecking the belt she had on. SHe was dressed in her usual Auror outfit, one she used when she had to hunt down a Dark Wizard. Skin fitting black pants, black boots, a black tank with a black hooded sweatshirt. Her belt was around her thigh and held her wand, easily accessable if necessary and her hair was up in a high ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Freds, calm down. Nothing's going to happen tonight." she said, trying to soothe him.

"I bet my dad said that to my mum before he left. I bet he said _'nothing's going to happen'_ and then guess what? He almost _died_. Almost_ fucking died_ doing the same _nothing_ you and my brother will be doing tonight! How can I be calm? I freak out as soon as you're out of sight, let alone when you go out on a mission." Fred said, throwing his arms wide in an exasperated gesture.

Aero's eyes softened and she gently pushed him into one of the plush chairs. She rested on the arm of it and ran a hand through his red hair.

"Freds, we're on guard now. What happened to your dad was an unexpected thing. But now we're better prepared."

"But what if he shows up himself? There's a slim few of people who survive his attacks, and eventually they all die anyways. What if he shows up? Are you prepared for that?"

"He won't show up, not tonight. He won't risk it. Right now he can fly under the radar, allowing him to get more things done as long as the Ministry is blinding itself and everyone else. If he shows up now, he risks revealing himself." Aero explained.

"I don't know if that fact comforts you, but I however am not comforted in the slightest. What if your parents show up?"

Aero's hand briefly froze in his hair before she forced herself to keep going.

"They won't show...there's no way they'd know I was there tonight anyways. They won't show up just because there's a chance I might be one of the members on guard."

Fred just shook his head.

She stood and prepared to walk to the portrait hole and he grabbed her tiny hand in his own, pulling her back and kissed her until she couldn't breathe. Her eyes were wide, frozen at the unexpected move, startled.

"Promise you'll come back." he whispered.

"Fred..."

"Promise. Me."

"I promise..."

Fred nodded and forcibly removed himself from her and watched her back as she stepped outside the portrait hole, making her way through the empty corridors to go to Dumbledore's office. His stomach had dropped and his heart had stopped and he doubted it would start again until he could feel her safely back in his arms again.

* * *

He had the worst dream. Something about darkness and Dementors and and a baby crying and a small black wolf flying through the air and the bloody room of the Shrieking Shack. Memories, not a dream, but memories. But the nightmare wasn't what woke him. No, someone was standing over him, shaking him roughly.

Sirius sat up in bed, a sweat on his brow and his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of a wand by his head. Mad-eye stood over him, a grim look upon his face. It hadn't alarmed Sirius had first, other than the fact the scarred man was standing over him while he slept, because Mad-eye only ever seemed to be grim-faced about something or other or just life in general. No, what alarmed him was the sound of muffled crying coming from the door, and he leaned to look around the hulking ex-Auror and mentor of his cousins, to see Remus' shadowed form in the doorway, consoling...Tonks?

Sirius' heart leapt into his throat. His mind whirled in about a second flat. Suddenly he was wide awake, the fogginess of his previous sleep vanished and he looked imploringly at his friend, desperate for his eyes not to say the words Sirius was sure he couldn't bear to hear. Tonight...tonight was the night Bill and Aero were on assignment...

He knew, he knew when Bellatrix had broken out Aero shouldn't go out. He knew it. He had argued with Mad-eye and Dumbledore about it for hours every day. Eventually Aero had to mirror him and tell him to knock it off. But now...the look on Mad-eye's face was grimmer than usual, Remus' head was bent and his hair fell into his eyes but Sirius could see them shining in the dark from his bed. And Tonks was weeping into his friend's chest, her body shaking.

Finally Mad-eye spoke, his voice rough and stern and somewhat choked;

"Sirius, there's been an attack..."


	35. Chapter 35 The impossible now possible

**Alright, I'm thinking of making a tumblr, what's your thoughts on the matter? It'd probably be for this fic, or maybe just one for me-writing in general... **

**I just reread family honor again...I wanted to stab myself in the foot with a spork. What. The. _Hell_. Was I on? **

**And I apologize in advance for the utter sadness of this chapter, I cried inside for what I've just done...**

* * *

No one laughs at God  
When the doctor calls after some routine tests  
No one's laughing at God  
When it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from the party yet

No one laughs at God in a hospital  
No one laughs at God in a war  
No one's laughing at God  
When they've lost all they've got and they don't know what for

No one laughs at God  
On the day they realize that the last sight they'll ever see  
Is a pair of hateful eyes  
No one's laughing at God  
When they're saying their goodbyes

No one's laughing at God  
No one's laughing at God  
No one's laughing at God  
We're all laughing with God

_Laughing With_ - **Regina Spektor **

* * *

**Dead**.

She could hear the words, but they weren't processing. They just spun around in her head, a head that felt cold and empty, her brain running a body that felt helpless and numb. She couldn't begin to fathom what was being said, it was ridiculous. Too ridiculous for reality. Impossible. Improbbable. Nightmarish. Something she couldn't conjure up even in her darkest of dreams. And yet they said it, said it in _understanding_ and _sympathetic_ voices. But they couldn't possibly understand...no one could. No. Because such a thing was impossible to understand.

How can one understand why horrible things happen to good people? How can anyone possibly understand such a thing? It's not possible, a feat untouched. And all the sympathy in the world couldn't make this real for her. Nothing could make the ache in her chest evaporate, make the world stop spinning.

Three hours ago she was in the Common Room, sitting there and talking about how nothing was going to happen. Nothing is what should've happened. Or at least for them nothing should've happened. She's the one who should've been there, and had she been there things wouldn't have ended up as they are now...she would never forget that fact. This was her fault. All. Her. Fault.

_The corridors were empty. Everyone was in bed, and she expected her worrying lover was the only one still up. He'd probably stay up until she got back tomorrow morning. With a sigh she continued heading for Dumbledore's office and whispered the password before heading up the staircase. Dumbledore was expecting her so there was no need to knock. She simply opened the door and took the chair in front of the desk, where Dumbledore sat behind looking over some paperwork. _

_"Mr. Weasley should be sending word soon to tell us if the outside is clear at the Ministry." Dumbledore stated. _

_"Arthur or Bill?" Aero wondered. _

_Dumbledore smiled. "Arthur. Bill is on his way there, as soon as he leaves Gringotts." _

_"And Umbridge?" Aero asked. _

_"I have Fawks watching her -" _

_And then said bird appeared before them, looking pointedly at Dumbledore who moved to the fire place. Fawks squaked loudly and Dumbledore turned sharply. He murmured something soft under his breath and a shimmering Phoenix appearred from his wand, soaring out the window and into the night. _

_"Professor D? What's going on?" Aero asked. _

_"It seems as though Professor Umbridge as suspected something. She on her way here, already with the knolwedge you are out of bed. How she knows, I cannot say. Perhaps she wasn't bluffing you when she said she had you under survallaince." _

_Aero started at that. _

_"Sir, if my position has been compromised..." _

_"I believe you are aware of the consequences, should she know more than you are out of bed. We cannot simply send you out now, not when she already knows." Dumbledore said quietly. _

_"Well then who goes in my stead? Surely Bill can't go on his own?" Aero said, glancing anxiously at the door. _

_"I've sent word to the Order. They'll send out a new pair for the assignment, incase Delores does know more, so Bill is not compromised." _

_"Who?" _

_"I don't know who is accessable as of right now...but Umbridge is here." _

_Aero whirled and the door swung open, revealing Delores Umbridge in a pale pink nightgown and robe. _

_"I suspected as much. You're quite the sneak, Ms. Black, I'll give you that." Umbridge sneered. _

_"A compliment from you? You've just made my life, Delores." Aero remarked. _

_"Life as you know it is about to change, Ms. Black, considering the implications of what you are doing here, in such a fashion." _

_"Are you trying to imply I cannot visit my Headmaster? Or that there is a dresscode that I neglected to abide by after school hours?" _

_"Evade the situation all you want, child, but you have been caught red-handed." _

_"Doing what?" _

_"Proving my theory you are a spy at the Ministry. You and Dumbledore are both trying to unseat Cornelius, and I will see to it you are properly punished." _

And then they all took seats in Dumbledore's office, arguing back and forth, Dumbledore trying to smooth over the situation, Aero trying to talk her way out and Umbridge telling them both they had been caught. And then she contacted the Ministry to report them, only to find the worst news Aero could've possibly heard.

Dead. _Gone_. And never coming back.

They had been supposed to cover the outside of the Ministry until Kingsley and Tonks could clear the way for them up to the the Department of Mysteries. But they never got that far. An attack had happened outside the Ministry, conveniently at their posting, and there had been no surviving victims.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus and Rabastan LeStrange had been sighted at the scene before fleeing. But the damage had been done.

_Desarie and Shane Lathum were dead._

They had been called by Hestia Jones to cover for Aero and Bill and they readily agreed. Selena stayed with the neighbor woman and they had gone to the Ministry. Bellatrix and the LeStranges showed up and with a simply killing curse the two were murdered, quick and simple probably because they weren't who the Death Eaters had been after. From the report, the two had died with linked hands, wands at the ready, together. They had gone down in battle, just like Mad-eye had taught them.

"Ms. Black...my deepest condolences on your loss." Cornelius Fudge said diplomatically.

He had come to make the report. And because Aero was the closest thing they had to living family. But this was all just a formality to him. He didn't care. He didn't feel the utter emptiness inside like she did. Her friends...she had just seen them. They were fine and happy and alive and now they were just...gone. She couldn't bring them back. He didn't care. Not really. All he saw was he lost two Aurors. Well she lost two friends.

"Considering the ..._situation_, some things needed to be settled immediatley. Aurors Desarie Hale and husband Shane Lathum were the parents of a small child, your goddaughter, Selena Halie Lathum, correct?"

Aero couldn't react and Dumbledore supplied Fudge with clarification that Selena was indeed her Goddaughter.

"Well, it states in the Last Will and Testament of the two that should anything happen to both of them, Selena is to be taken in by her Godmother, Aeroanna Endora Black."

Selena. Oh good God, Selena was an orphan now. She didn't even know her parents were dead. Her mother was never going to tuck her in again, her father was never going to check the closet for monsters...

And now she had to take care of her. Aero, who knew nothing about kids and wasn't even out of school...Aero who took too many risks with the Order, with her own life, had to raise a child in a stable home. How could she possibly take in a little kid? But then again how could she deny her friends' last will, the fact they trusted her with their only child...

"I'm assuming I have immediate custody of Selena?" Aero spoke finally.

"Well, yes. She has no one else. Of course, a Ministry appointed official will drop by occassionally to check up on the child for 6 months afterwards." Fudge said.

"And you'll drop by later with the rest of the Will?" Aero clarified.

"Of course."

"_A-hem._ I do believe this girl is in school, Minister. What of that?"

"Oh, quite right, Delores, quite right. Auror Black...there's the matter of living situations. You cannot have a child live with you at Hogwarts..."

Aero clenched her jaw. Delores Umbridge was still going to destroy her, even during the sudden death of her friends.

"Then I suppose I'll just drop out, won't I?" Aero muttered.

"Aero..." Dumbledore started.

"No, no. It's the only option if she wishes to have custody of her Goddaughter, Headmaster. But if she drops out and doesn't complete her education, _Cornelius_..." Umbridge said sadly, but Aero could hear the underlying triumph in her voice.

"Ah yes...Aero I'm afraid that to have custody of the young ward you must leave Hogwarts, and if you do that you won't have a full education, which was part of the deal for you to enter the Auror program...perhaps there's another family that can take Selena Lathum in -"

"_No_. I'll hand in my papers by the end of the day, Professor D. I'll have living situations squared away by then. Until then, Selena can stay with the neighbor Desarie and Shane left her with, and I'll pick her up when I depart." Aero interrupted.

Selena had no one else. And Aero refused to send her Goddaughter somewhere else just to fit her own life style. Her life was going to have to revolve around Selena now...she had seen what had happened to Harry, and couldn't help but think what he'd be like if Sirius had raised him instead. She wouldn't send Selena away. She'd take her in.

"Cornelius, I'm sure we can work this out so Ms. Black can finish her education." Dumbledore said.

"Rules are rules, Dumbledore." Fudge said stiffly.

"This is a unique situation, Cornelius."

"Be that as it may, I cannot go about changing up rules, they are there for a reason." Fudge declared.

Dumbledore's fingers curled slightly.

"And where was this morality when you were breaking them against Harry Potter?"

Fudge spluttered for a moment before righting himself.

"This conversation is done, Dumbledore. Again, my deepest sympathies, Ms. Black, and I hope to see the arrangements made soon."

With that Fudge walked from the room and the door shut loudly behind him, piercing the painful silence that seemed to have enveloped Aero. She stared blankly at the floor and finally stood, her body stiff and reluctant in moving.

"You're past curfew, Ms. Black, do hurry back to bed." Umbridge replied sweetly.

Aero and Dumbledore seemed to be in sync when they turned their heads to stare hard at her. Aero turned to look at Dumbledore just before she slipped out the door and muttered a monotone "my apologies, Professor D." With the resounding thud of the door closing behind her she suddenly felt very cold and as if no air was left in her body.

She forgot where she was supposed to go. She forgot to breathe. Her legs moved on their own accord, her arm outstretched as her fingers skimmed the stone walls in the corridors as if for support. She walked faster, her body on auto-pilot. Her eyes stared ahead, unblinkly and stinging with the salt of her own tears that unknowningly trailed down her face. But she couldn't feel them and paid them no attention as they slip off her jaw and pelted the stone floor like raindrops.

She wanted to pinch herself and remind herself it was all a horrible nightmare and when she woke herself up Desarie and Shane would be fine, alive and breathing and Selena would have two loving, stable parents to raise her instead of her baskett-case of a teenage Godmother. Everything would be normal. Everything would be fine, and the universe wouldn't have just pulled teh ground out from under her again.

It's what she felt like though. Like she was falling, just falling with no end in sight. Just perpetually falling through the harsh, cold air.

Her mother had killed them. Her parents had killed them. Her parents and her uncle killed them. They, her blood, made her goddaughter an orphan of two parents in one night. It was like Neville all over again. How many lives was Aero going to have to watch her parents destroy? It was supposed to be her there, she knew, and that was why they had showed up. But somehow Umbridge knew she was out of bed and stopped her, and instead of her own cold body on the unforgiving ground, instead of her last sight being those pairs of hateful eyes...it had been her friends. It was her own fault. How did Umbridge know she was out of bed? How did her parents know she was going to be there tonight?

She couldn't even find an answer. She could barely think about it. The sense of immense guilt settled in her stomach and her heart clenched in response to its weight of dread. If she had just been there...if she had been there like she was supposed to, she would be dead instead of them, and she hated herself for allowing them to go in her place. It should be her in the morgue right now. It should be her being reported dead. Not two decent, good people.

She stopped at that thought and her stomach bunched, the guilt practically ripping through her stomach. Her hands clutched at her stomach, gripping the skin there and she bent over, hunching her shoulders and her eyes shut tightly, a body wracking sob escaping her throat, tearing from it really, and her knees buckled beneath her and she hit the ground, clutching at herself, and sobbed.

And then hands were gripping her arms tightly, fingers digging into her skin urgently, shaking her gently but quickly, the skin hot against hers. And her head tilted back and stared blearily at the figure crouched in front of her, trying to see through the tears in her eyes and couldn't. A flash of red was there though and then she was against his chest and his arms wrapped around her and gripped her tight and her tears soaked his shirt. Her cries echoed against the walls of the empty corridors.

-0-0-0-0-

Fred just held her tightly. He didn't know what was wrong, but it was too early for her to be back already and she was clearly not alright. There was an unmasked feeling of pain to her cries that made him want to cringe. She seemed to no longer even have the ability to mask her emotions even a little. She just sat there, sagged against him, and cried. Her body wracked with the sobs that tore from her small body and his arms tightened around her every time one bounced off one of the walls around them. He wanted to make whatever wrong okay but somehow knew he couldn't. Something terrible had happened that night.

Fred remembered falling asleep on the common room couch with the thought of how he couldn't wait to just have her in his line of sight again and hold her in his arms. This, most definately, was _not_ what he had meant.

* * *

Aero didn't sleep. No matter how many times Fred told her to, she didn't. She didn't even say no. She just ignored it, as if she couldn't hear him. She had stopped crying somewhere after two hours, and just stood up, walked through the portrait hole, and up to her dorm room. Fred had stood in the common room, startled and concerned, and then she reappearred with a box in her hands and sat on the couch. She immediatley took out several papers and searched for more. She summoned an Owl from the Owlery and wrote quickly on several papers.

She wrote something to Sirius, stating she was fine and wouldn't be able to visit for a few days. She wrote to Gringotts next, stating that she would be down there that afternoon to make arrangements to her parents' vault and make a new one. She had been cut off from her money supply from the Malfoys' after her disownment and then she resigned from her job just hours ago. She'd receive her last paycheck at the end of the week. But she had to find a suitable place to live, and take care of a child, so she would make a vault for herself and take a self-bestowed 'inheritance' from her parents' vaults befoer Narcissa got her hands on it and closed it from her. And then she wrote to an Agent she knew from back when she had originally bought the small cottage for Remus to live in before he moved to Grimmauld Place and told him to find a place for her and her young Goddaughter to live in short notice, money wasn't an option. She had to find that new place to live, at least on paper work, because she couldn't say she lived at Grimmauld Place and lead them to Sirius. And then she got a letter from the Ministry for her resignation paperwork, which quite startled Fred, and she signed them before teh stiff owl flew off. And then she signed papers she got from Fawks himself saying she was dropping out of school and Fred had actually jumped up from his place on the chair beside her at that one.

"Aero, what the hell is going on?" he demanded.

"I told you Desarie and Shane are dead. Therefore I become the guardian of Selena. I have to leave school because I can't have a child living with me and because I'm leaving school Umbridge pointed out I'd be violating the terms of my employment therefore I'm resigning as an Auror. And since my paycheck stops at the end of the week I'll have no funds coming in and my parents are newly escaped convicts and Narcissa will soon be given ruling over their vaults, so I am going to Gringotts today to make my own vault and put some of my parent's things in mine so I'll have money to care for Selena and buy a new apartment or house or something if only just for show so I don't bring the very people looking for my cousin's head on a silver platter to said cousin." Aero replied simply, sending out another letter with yet another summoned owl.

Fred opened his mouth and then shut it again before saying "This is all too sudden..."

"Death is sometimes a sudden matter, as unfortunate as it is, and sometimes upsets the normalcy of people's lives. I on the other hand will be glad to leave Hogwarts and escape that conniving toad of a woman and escape the iron fist of my superiors at the Ministry. I just don't like that I can no longer be of any assisstance to Dumbledore."

Fred stared at her a moment, still shocked.

"Aero...I highly doubt Dumbledore will care considering the fact that...that well..."

"That my friends were just murdered by my own parents and I have to try and raise their daughter myself?" Aero snapped suddenly, the first sign of emotion shining through on her face since she stopped crying.

Fred's eyes softened and sat on the arm of the couch beside her. A hand brushed her hair and she refused to meet his eyes.

"You don't have to raise her yourself, you know." he said quietly.

"Like you want a kid right now." she scoffed.

"I may not be the most mature bloke on the planet -" Aero gave a dry laugh " - but I'd love to be a dad someday, and since I know you're not big on carrying on your family's genes, this may be the closest I get. Besides...who doesn't love that adorable little girl anyways? I'd be lucky to help you raise her."

Aero turned her head and Fred was surprised to see tears lining her eyes.

" I don't think I can do this, Fred." she admitted in a whisper.

Fred slid onto the couch beside her, pulling her face gently between his hands.

"You can do this. We can do this. It's a scary thing, I know. Just thinking about being responsible for a kid is scaring me. And put that on top of just losing your friends, your parents escaping, having to leave school which is like a home to you and then leaving your career, which I know you happen to love doing it a lot to take in a process and everything is changing. You're scared."

Aero nodded and a tear slid down her cheek and ran into his hand.

"But you can do this. Because you're a strong, intelligent, independent woman who I happen to love dearly. Selena loves you. Desarie and Shane obviously trusted you enough because they left you the most precious thing in their lives. I don't doubt for one second you can handle this."

"You have more faith in me than I do..."

"Then you'll just have to trust me on this one."

They spent the next few hours packing, or rather Aero was upstairs packing her trunk while Fred went to wake up George and Lee and explain the situation. Lee was baffled and George was upset. Katie and Alicia awoke as well when Aero numbly entered the room and forgot to carefully close the door behind her.

"Do you really have to leave?" Alicia asked, her eyes already getting teary.

"Of course she does, thanks to that toad. It's the right thing to do, considering Selena." Katie replied while Aero stayed silent, shoving the last of her books into her trunk.

"Can't Dumbledore do anything?" Angelina asked tentativley from her bed.

"Dumbledore's done enough for me over the years. I'm not going to sit and let him do anything else." Aero replied.

"But he's the Headmaster. Can't he figure something out?" Alicia asked.

"Leesh, Dumbledore's in trouble with the Ministry already. I highly doubt Aero would even think about letting him risk his neck." Katie sighed.

"But where are you going to go?" Alicia wondered quietly.

"I'm going to find a place in the next few days. You don't have to worry, Leesh, I'm going to be fine." Aero said, trying lightly to assure her.

Alicia seemed to pout then and sat on the edge of Aero's bed, her eyes watery and trying to bite her trembling lower lip. Katie frowned and ran a hand gently over Aero's hair which Aero stiffened slightly at the sudden contact before Katie sat down and wrapped an arm around Alicia's shoulders.

"Aero's a big girl. She can handle it. And she knows we're there if she ever needs anything." Katie soothed, shooting Aero a pointed look.

Aero nodded her head in reply and stood, swishing her wand and levitating her trunk. Angelina watched silently as her roommate left the room quietly and she followed the other girls out. The boys were downstairs already, along with Harry and Ron and Neville, and Hermione and Ginny.

The room was silent. Lee had gone over and put a comforting hand on Alicia's shoulder and she leaned into him. George and Angelina stood next to each other, granted with severl inches between them. Harry and Neville both insisted on giving her bone-tight hugs, as if they were never going to see her again. Ginny was fuming, muttering under her breath she'd squish the old toad and under normal circumstances Aero would've smiled at her determination. Hermione stood by, completely alarmed by the situation, and gripped unknowingly on Ron's arm, who in turn turned a nice beet red color.

"We won't be far behind you." George assurred her.

"I'll come as soon as I can, love, I promise. We just have a few things we have to take care of first." Fred said in agreement.

"If you two can finish the year, that's what you're going to do. You're not leaving just because I am." Aero said, quiet but firm.

"We were planning on leaving anyways." George shrugged with a small smile.

"Yeah, Quidditch was about the only thing worth staying for...and you of course!" he said, quickly.

Aero quirked one side of her lips just ever-so-slightly.

"Alright, but if your mum asks, I had nothing to do with it." she said.

"Of course!" they chorused.

Fred stepped forward, pulling her close and she almost wanted to just melt there, instead of having to leave her only true home, knowing she'd never come back. He leant down and sealed their lips together and she swore she fealt her heart trying to restart itself after it broke in Dumbledore's office.

"_Soon_." he promised when he pulled back.

She nodded and he brushed a hand through her hair before he walked her to the portrait hole. She had told him and the others to stay in the common room, she wasn't going to give Umbridge the pleasure of getting them all in trouble. At the last moment he placed something in her hand and told her to use it when she left. So she levitated her trunk and and with a final glance over her shoulder, closed the portrait hole and made her way through the castle to apparrate from Hogsmeade.

* * *

It was a little chilly out and Aero huddled in the old lancer jacket she had gotten from Sirius' room and leaned against the gates of Hogwarts. She breathed deep. She felt nauseous all of a sudden and put a hand over her mouth, willing the bile down. She waited a moment for her stomach to settle and headed out, grabbing her trunk and apparratting away with a sudden crack.

She reappeared on the doorstep of the Lathum household. It was unsettling, being there, when she knew Desarie and Shane no longer lived there and yet everything would be as they left it...

With the will of a thousand men she opened the door and stepped inside. She absently waved her wand, apparrating her trunk to her room in Grimmauld Place. She leaned back against the door and closed it, staring around the room as if trying to find her friends. Like Shane would stumble out of the connected kitchen with a grin on his face or Desarie would pop out and startle her with that silent-walking gift she had. But the reality was they weren't coming out. And the only thing she had left to remember them by was their daughter.

Their little girl with her mother's golden hair and her father's glittering emerald eyes. Their little girl who was as stubborn as her mother and as playful as her father. Who seemed to be the perfect mix of everything good in her friends, who had no idea they were dead, who thought that they'd be there to take her back here when she woke up. And Aero would have to be the one to tell her. She was the one who would have to tear that sweet little innocent girl's entire world apart in one sentence.

And despite Aero felt like breaking down again, she knew she couldn't because things had to be done, and she had no right to break down, not when Selena was now depending on her, not when her parents were the ones who killed them, not when it was her fault they were gone.

So she went into the nursery, grabbed Selena's things as quickly as possible, as much as she would need for now, and locked up the house, put up the protection wards that were necessary and disapparated to the neighbor's doorstep. The old woman had infact been informed before her arrival and gave her condolences and Aero stiffly said thank-you before taking the sleeping three-year old from the woman.

Surprisingly enough, Selena didn't wake up when she apparrated them to the stoop of Grimmauld place and walked inside. She knew they'd all be in the kitchen, waiting, and she instead went up the stairs and to her own bedroom where she set Selena's things down and put her into her large bed for the night.

Aero felt exhausted. She sunk onto the floor, leaning against the side of the bed, holding a picture of them all she had grabbed from their house; a tiny her from her first year in Hogwarts, Desarie and Shane were making love-eyes at each other and Desarie seemed to giggle, Tonks was leaning on Aero, her forearm resting on top of her head as she gave the camera a grin before looking down and ruffling her hair, Aero glaring up at her and blowing out her cheeks in a disgruntled huff.

It seemed so weird, that they were so close, because really her first years and any after that consisted mainly of the twins. But she had latched onto them all at some point during her first year, much like Harry and Neville did with her. And then the twins were the younger brothers of Charlie, who hung around with Tonks and Desarie and Shane, so of course it gave them another way to interact. And then Shane and Desarie had no one else, no parents, no siblings, and they were in love and chose her, for whatever reason, to be their child's godmother. Aero had thought nothing of it originally. She never expected she'd have to...she never expected she'd have to because she never even entertrained the thought that one day she'd wake up and they weren't there anymore.

And then Tonks was by her side, sitting beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and they leaned against each other, Tonks staring down at the picture that now had tear drops splattered on it.

0-0-00-0-0

"It still seems so surreal. Like a cosmic joke from the universe and when I wake up it'll be normal again..." Tonks said, her voice lost of its usual lively tone.

Aero stayed silent. Tonks knew her cousin probably didn't want to voice her pain, but Tonks would speak.

"I don't suppose Dez ever told you she wanted both of us to be the Godparents?"

Aero paused but shook her head.

Tonks gave a soft, dry laugh.

"She changed her mind so many times. She wanted it to be you, me and Charlie. Shane of course told her they could picked us all."

"Then why didn't you and Charlie have to pick her up tonight?" Aero asked, her voice hoarse.

Tonks sighed.

"Charlie said he would. He's actually the Godfather, legally. I know Shane said it was his friend from school, who died after we all graduated, and it's true. We had a friend, Simon Winthrop, a Hufflepuff like me. We all hung around together, Charlie, Simon and us. But Simon was always getting sick. We didn't know what was wrong with him. He'd get so sick, so violently sick, and then we graduated and he was going to be a Hit-Wizard. Turns out, not long after they chose the Godparents, you and Simon, he had an attack during an assignment and died in the field. Shane was devestated. And they said Selena deserved two Godparents, and about five months after they chose Charlie."

Tonks had no idea why she was bringing this up. Maybe because she was trying to pass on the memories of what was left of her friends. It was just her and Charlie left, and Aero of course, their littlest member. She remembered when Aero was sorted and she asked her two Gryffindor friends to look after her. Charlie was looking after his brothers at the time, and Desarie and Shane jumped at the chance to look after her, since they had no siblings of their own. Maybe that's why she wanted to talk about this. Because Aero had never really hung around with the others much, Tonks was sure she had a few run ins with Charlie and Simon, she probably just didn't remember. And considering Tonks' friends were depleting as of now, maybe she should tell Aero about them all.

"Then why was I notified to be the guardian and not Charlie?" Aero murmured.

"I suppose because the Minister isn't too fond of the Weasley's at the moment, and you work under him, and he's too arrogant to think you'd be a spy. So he came to you first. I just notified Charlie. He's coming in tomorrow morning." Tonks guessed.

"And why aren't you the godmother? Why choose me?"

"Because I didn't believe I was capable of of taking care of Selena should anything happen. I knew the risks of our jobs when we became Aurors. We were all Aurors, and chances are I could die just as soon as them. So Desarie decided on the true best option for Selena, _you_. You were still in school yeah, but you were the safest of us there, under Dumbledore. I don't know...I just knew you were the better choice."

Aero was silent for several moments. Tonks leaned back against the bed, watching the figures of her friends move, oblivious to their futures. She felt a pang in her heart. She felt guilty for making Aero have to mourn and take care of a child which meant her leaving school early and ending her education as well as forfitting her job at the Ministry. She felt guilty she hadn't done something to stop them from going tonight, and then felt another pand when she realized if they hadn't gone Aero would be the one dead, along with Bill. Everything was so, _so_ messed up!

_The first day she met those Gryffindors had been in first year. Shane was climbing a tree by the lake and Desarie sat under it, trying to get a tan, which Tonks thought wasn't necessary since she already had such a golden tone to it. She remembered feeling envious of the blonde. Eleven years old and she looked like a model. The long legs with the golden tan and the golden, glossy blonde hair. Her eyes were closed and she was laying on the amazingly green grass by the lake. Shane was making up his own theme song rather loudly, stumbling when he couldn't come up with words as he swung daringly from the brances. _

_Shane back then was scrawny and pale with extremely short hair that looked like caramel itself. He looked slightly ordinary, but his eyes were this weird shade of green and positively sparkled when matched with his boyish grin. Despite the two ending up together when they reached their teen years, they had nothing to do with each other on that day. Tonks' doubted they even took notice of each other right then. _

_Tonks' herself was a small little thing, smaller than Aero had been her first year. She had her large, innocent doe eyes the color of violet and her hair was long, so her waist and the vibrant color of fuschia with thick full bangs. She didn't even go by Tonks then. She begrudgingly went by Dora. She stumbled her way to the tree and sat beside it, the necessary space between herself and the blonde Gryffindor. She then turned and examined the new scratch on her knee from went she tumbled down the stairs that morning. Luckily, or rather unluckily, she had had to learn the simple healing spell at an early age and simply healed the scratch. _

_That was also the day she noticed Charlie Weasley, who was short and stocky and actually had short scarlet hair then. He was doused in freckles that covered his pale skin. He was sitting just beyond the same tree at the water's edge, playing with some sort of water creature he had found. It looked like it had narly teeth, but he didn't even flinch when it snapped at him, barely missing his fingers. In fact, he smiled fondly at it. _

_Tonks glanced up when a twig snapped and Shane almost toppled out of the branches. Desarie glanced up, not worried like Tonks but simply curious to her disturbance. Shane let out an oath but caught himself and when he noticed their looks he gave them a confident thumbs up before dontinuing with his theme-song process and climbing up again. Desarie flipped a page in the magazine she was reading and blew a bubble from her gum. _

_Some girls by the water squealed when Charlie caught a fish with his hands and fed it to the water-creature who munched rather loudly on it. Desarie and Tonks both gave him looks, unlike the squealing girls, they happened to be impressed. And then there was the Hufflepuff boy from her year, Simon Winthrop, who was now standing under the tree, looking up imploringly at Shane. _

_Simon had just walked over, smooth on his feet with an air of confidence, thought nothing about him screamed arrogant, and Tonks found herself envious of his smooth and balanced self. He ran a hand through his brown hair, which looked extremely silky to Tonks and hung just under his ears. His blue eyes searched the tree branches above him wonderingly. _

_"Haven't found a sickle up there, by any chance, mate?" he asked. _

_Shane glanced down, somewhat startled by the question. _

_"Naw, sorry mate. Haven't found your sickle. Found a wad of gum three branches down if you want that." _

_Simon grinned. _

_"I think I'm alright, thanks." _

_Shane just grinned back and shrugged, preparing to grab hold of the next branch above his head. Tonks found another scratch at her elbow and waved her wand at it lazily. Desarie popped another bubble and gave a bored sigh, and Charlie stumbled nimbly back from his snapping creature who wanted another fish. And then everything changed tempo. Simon bent over and clutched his stomach, groaning loudly, his eyes clenched shut and suddenly pale, and he turned to the base of the trunk, in between Desarie Hale and Tonks herself and his body seemed to convulse and curl in on itself and he heaved. _

_All at once Charlie threw the creature quickly back into the water, racing over to them. Desarie threw her magaine aside and nearly choked on her gum as she stumbled to her feet, eyes wide. Tonks was up and had fallen over from the urgency of her movements but rightened herself and a cracking of branches sounded above them and Shane crashed to the ground, landing on his feet beside her. The three huddled around Simon and Desarie reached a hand over, trying to soothe him by rubbing slow circles on her back. She looked sharply up and met Tonks' eyes as he finally wretched into the grass by the base of the tree. Shane and Charlie made sure no one was staring, trying to give Simon his privacy. Tonks knealed down beside him and spoke calmly to him, telling him everything was fine and no one was watching and anything she could think of. Eventually after fifteen minutes of wretching, Simon twisted away from his vomit and fell against Tonks on his side, sweat sheening on his face and a calm smile on his face. _

_"Sorry 'bout that." he said quietly, clearing his throat. _

_"You're _sorry_?" Charlie clarified in awe. _

_"For getting sick? You don't have to apologize, mate." Shane said in agreement, equally astonished. _

_"Well I should've expected it. I get sick quite often." Simon replied. _

_"Is there anything we can do?" Tonks asked quickly as Desarie hovered, brushing hair from his face. _

_"You've done more than I expected anyone to do already, Tonks." Simon said with a smile. _

_"Of course we'd help you, you dolt." Desarie said bluntly. _

_"You know what we have to do now..." Shane said. _

_"Take me to the infirmary? It's not necessary." Simon said. _

_"We have to take care of you." Charlie said. _

_Simon glanced, surprised at them all. _

_"We can't just leave to fend for yourself, kid, we have to look after you." Desarie agreed. _

_"We don't actually have to. We just want to." Tonks clarified after seeing Simon's horrified and slightly guilty expression. He clearly thought he'd be a burden. _

_"Besides, I doubt any of us actually has anything better to do." Shane said with a joking grin. _

_Simon looked uncertainly at them all but a smile found its way to his face. _

_Twenty minutes ago they had barely registered each other, and now because of Simon Winthrop, they were suddenly connected. _

"Shane and Desarie were really the last bit of our group, weren't they? I mean, Simon's gone, they're gone...the only two original members of our little group are me and Charlie...and the little recruits being you, my surrogate little sister, and Charlie's two twin terrors...it's sad, to think about it. You know..." Tonks said quietly, but the underlying fondness in her voice couldn't be missed, "Simon is the one who introduced me to being called Tonks when I expressed my utter detest for my first name."

Aero turned her head on her cousin's shoulder and glanced, teary eyed, up at her.

"You were all so close..." she murmured.

Tonks squeazed her closer, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah...but those two would at least be happy to know we'll all be raising their kid...you're not in this alone, Aero. We've got a little mini-legacy sleeping on that bed there, and none of us are gonna let you do this on your own. Now c'mon, get some rest before Charlie gets here." Tonks said.

When she looked up over the side of the bed and saw that golden, glossy blonde hair she almost swore it was Desarie asleep in that bed.


	36. Chapter 36 Reminders from the past

**I am immensely sorry about killing off Desarie and Shane. They were two of my favorites of my OCs. But I had originally planned to kill them. I don't know why. Maybe to show Bellatrix would stop at nothing to get at Aero. Maybe because I wanted to show that these people were dangerous, and war effects everyone, including the innocent, like Selena. Maybe I wanted to have a reason for Aero to grow up a little. **

**And...things are probably going to be a little faster now. A lot of things are going to happen soon, I've got it planned in my head. Oh, and I'm already planning another branch on my HONORS series, a Next Gen. fic... :) And Marauder Honor is going up within the next few days again. Secret Honor is already up. I might add a few more Honor Branches. And some characters are going to be crossing over, just to let you know, not that you have to read the other stories to figure it out when they do, just saying. Maybe one in this chapter... **

* * *

Charlie arrived later that morning, having come from Romania. He looked slightly green, as one would before they get sick, but he brushed off his mother's numerous inqueries on his health with simple 'I'm fine, mum's. He just wanted to get upstairs, where they said Aero had been since she got there, and see Selena. He wanted to see Tonks as well, because the little voice in his head was nagging him about her and he somehow needed to just lay eyes on her for a split second to truly convince himself that she was fine, it was Desarie and Shane who were gone.

Everyone who knew Charlie Weasley said he was a simple man. He did what he wanted. He was honest and straight shooting, he wasn't materialistic in the least and he could enjoy the solitude of his job. He didn't need much. Didn't want much. But the range of thoughts and emotions that were currently clashing inside him were anything but simple. Truthfully they unnerved him, feeling so much all at once. It was also a little unbalancing to know he now had responsibilities other than the Dragons back in Romania. There was an actual kid involved now.

He was nervous about meeting Selena, though he had met her a few times, she didn't know him like she knew Aero, he was sure. Aero was close, she was able to properly be there for their Goddaughter and if Charlie was honest with himself, he hadn't felt right calling himself the Godfather, like he was replacing Simon. But according to Shane, Simon had clearly expressed it to him when the Hit-Wizard accepted the title that should anything happen to him, they'd give Selena the privelage of knowing another.

He was angry that the Minister of fucking Magic couldn't send someone out to tell him. It had to be Tonks, writing in a hectic fashion, tear blots smudging her ink, writing him from London saying the last of their friends were dead...and Selena needed him. He was angry, because he should've been there. He should've been there when Fudge talked to Aero. He had met the Minister once while attending something with his father when he visited, and he knew how the man could be. So Charlie felt slightly guilty that Aero had to deal with it all on her own, hearing the words that if they had not come from Tonks he wouldn't have believed. He wondered if Aero even knew he was the Godfather, if she had thought she was alone.

And he felt empty. Despite the anger and the guilt and anxiety, the overwhelming sense of emptiness was consuming him. His two friends were dead. It was sudden and unpredictable and it shocked him to his core. It was unbelievable. He had to read Tonks' letter almost one hundred times before it even began to process. He just couldn't have imagined them dying.

And then Tonks was stepping around the corner, towards him as he stood uncertainly by the stairs. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, her hair had lost its colorful vibrancy and instead was her natural dirty-blood butterscotch color. Her eyes were as dark as her mother's now and her skin seemed paler. She was not the Tonks he knew, and he wondered if she would ever be that happy-go-lucky girl with the fuschia hair again.

She launched herself into his arms, and he gripped her in a bear like hug, probably dis-alligning a few things as he squeazed her. But they were making sure the other was real, alive and safe. The sudden loss of their good friends had scared them both to wits end and neded to make sure the other wasn't going to disapear before their eyes.

She cried into his shoulder and he felt his heart breaking. Tonks was a cheerful person, a little accident-prone at best, but even when she fell or broke a bone, she never shed a tear, just laughed it off as the rest of them tried to restart their hearts. But she was crying. He held her tighter, if all possible.

"Don't cry, Tonks. Please don't cry." he pleaded quietly.

"Th-they're _gone_, Charlie!" she cried.

"Shhh, shhh Tonks."

She choked on a sob and pressed her face into his broad shoulder, her short nails digging into the thick, sun-touched skin of his neck.

Charlie glanced up and saw the pained expression on Sirius Black's face, no doubt trying not to remember when this was him regarding his friends. His mother watching them with watery eyes, a hand to her mouth, and his dad's arm wrapped comfortingly around her. Remus, a friend of Sirius' stood there, leaning against the wall, his eyes glued to Tonks' small form huddled in his scarred arms. He vaguely wondered about the intensity of the older man's gaze and made a mental note to ask Tonks' about it later.

He put Tonks back on her feet and brushed some hair from her eyes.

"I'm gonna go upstairs. See you when I come back down?" he asked.

She nodded, still crying, and wiped her eyes with the back of her gloved hand. Her eyes were simply heart-breaking right now. He placed a brotherly kiss to her forehead and leaned down to engulf her in another hug.

_"Lupin can't take his eyes off you."_ he said lowly, a small smirk on his lips as his whispered words made her choke, but not on a sob this time.

When he pulled back Tonks' eyes were wide and child-like, like how he remembered, and her face was glowing red.

"I take it it doesn't bother you?" he asked, amused.

Tonks seemed to glow brighter and she thwacked his arm for good measure, pitifully scowling at him as he dodged up the stairs with a rumbling laugh.

"I'm gonna make dinner tonight just to spit in you food, _Weasle_." she snipped.

"Wouldn't that be the same as you kissing me? Sharing saliva...that brings me back to fifth year when -"

"_Charlie_!" Tonks screeched, positively blushing now.

Charlie couldn't help that one really. It was worth it to distract both himself and Tonks and embarrass her like that the way he used to all the time. Her reactions were always amusing to him. Not to mention Lupin jerking from her perch against the wall, his eyes wide and stumbled and Sirius let out a bark of laughter at his friend and Lupin's cheeks tinted as well. Two birds, one stone.

"Keep screaming my name, pet." he rumbled as he quickly went up the stairs, avoiding the hex cast by his friend that singed the wall.

And then another screaming errupted and shouted and Charlie remembered hearing about Mrs. Black's portrait. Charming woman...

He made his way to the floor his mother said occupied Aero's room and found a door at the end of the hall, the only one without some sort of plaque on the front. He knocked once and cracked the door open, popping his head inside.

His brother's tiny girlfriend was curled up on a window seat, reading a small piece of paper and twirling a small metallic thing between her fingers. A small lump was in the bed, covered by blankets and numerous stuffed animals. The shockingly golden hair of his Goddaughter caught his eye and his gut twisted, thinking how much just the glimpse of her made him think of her mother.

"Alright, kid?" he asked.

"Better than you and Tonks, I reckon." she shrugged.

Charlie sighed and nodded his head.

"Tonks is a wailing mess, though now she's a blushing mess..."

Aero raised an eyebrow at the comment and something akin to curiosity flickered across her face before returning to her indifferent expression.

"What you got in your heads?" he wondered, pointing.

She glanced down and shifted her position to face him, her legs hanging off the side of the window bench.

"Fred gave me something before I left. Guess he and George found a location for the shop, one with that loft above it they've been dreaming of. He said I could live there with Lena, or at least use it as a front for the Ministry if I wanted to stay here. Got me a key and everything." she said.

Charlie was mildly impressed, though not shocked, with the twins' ability to purchase a location and start their lives without their mother even knowing. He was also very proud of said boy for obviously sticking by his girlfriend, despite the fact she now also how a kid to raise. Charlie couldn't help but think that those two boys were now fine young men.

"So he doesn't have a problem with you being a 'mother' now?" Charlie clarified.

Aero shook her head. She lifted her eyes, almost guilty looking, to his.

"He's not the one with the problem." she murmured.

Charlie took a seat at the foot of the bed, facing her, and careful not to jostle the sleeping girl.

"Then who does...?" he asked quietly, though he was pretty sure he knew.

"...me. I'm not sure I can handle being a parent in any way shape or form, to anyone, let alone my friends' only child. I mean...she's everything good in them. She's amazing. But what if I'm not? What if I mess it up? What if I was the wrong choice for her Godmother?" Aero admitted.

Charlie wasn't shocked she felt that way, anyone would, but he was surprised she'd admit such a thing to him, if he remembered what Fred told him about her. She was a quiet, emotionally-stunted person, he thought, though not by her own fault. Then again, both were in the same boat. They were both now looking at a lifetime of taking care of their dearest friends' last living memory. Charlie wasn't around enough to know Selena and Aero wasn't old enough to know anything about taking care of her.

"Man, this is _ridiculous_." Charlie said suddenly, a smile creeping onto his face.

Aero glanced up, eyes confused and something about her expression reminded Charlie of a puppy.

"We didn't even have to have sex and we get a kid."

Aero's mouth opened, in shock perhaps, and she stared at him before he saw her lips quirk.

Charlie thought for a moment.

"So...which one of us is going to tell my little brother we have a kid together?"

* * *

Charlie managed to convince Aero to go downstairs, considering Sirius had had a heart attack when they told him of the attack and hadn't seen her since. She came down the stairs with him, Selena asleep under a Sleeping Drought so she wouldn't wake until they figured everything out. When she reached the kitchen Aero had barely enough time to duck before a jet of bright light soared over her head and heard Charlie yelp.

She glanced up and saw the red head had been hit with a stinging hex. She turned to see Tonks with her hands on her hips, a satisfied expression on her face and wand in her hand. Aero gave a questioning look, slightly startled, and Tonks merely shrugged in response, like stinging a Weasley was no big deal.

"Charlie dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked from her seat.

"M'fine Mum..." Charlie said, his voice slightly muffled and held out two thumbs up.

"Charlie, you look awful mate." Bill commented.

"_Thanks_."

"No problem."

"Next time, Weasle, keep your mouth shut." Tonks said simply before sitting back into her chair.

Remus, who sat a few seats down, looked slightly distressed and stared wide-eyed at the younger witch. Sirius was sniggering at his poor friend in his hands. Aero glanced wearily between the two before slipping out the doorway and sitting down beside Remus and Sirius -

_and was promptly hit in the arm rather hard. _

"Sirius? Ow!" Aero exclaimed, grabbing at her arm and glowering at the man.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were _dead_!" He cried.

"So you _hit_ me?"

"Yes."

Aero opened her mouth and stared agape at Remus who just shrugged.

"Between the two of you, I sense more grey hairs on the way." he said with a sigh.

"You mean you have hair left that's actually colored?" Sirius muttered.

Remus cut his eyes to look at the man.

"You're not looking so smashing yourself, Padfoot."

"What are you babbling 'bout? I'm glorious, as always."

"Have you even looked in a mirror, you mut?"

"At least my hair is all one color, Moony."

"The grey makes me look rather distinguished."

Sirius snorted and Remus rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Tonks was rolling an apple across the table to Charlie, who struggled to open his mouth with his cheeks as puffed out as they were. Aero looked upon both sets of people. They all had these lives she had never truly been aware of. Like Tonks and Charlie with Desarie and Shane and Simon, who Aero struggled to remember. Or Remus and Sirius with all their friends, like Sirius' school lover that he had told her about...D-something. She wondered where she was now, doing what, if she had kids, if she had even _survived_ the war. She was weary to ask Sirius about it.

"Dumbledore says he's got some new members, members from the previous Order rejoining. Finally managed to get ahold of 'em, he said." Bill was saying.

"Who are these people if they're so difficult to get a hold of?" Arthur wondered.

"Maybe they've been in hiding? Or relocated the last war?" Bill suggested.

"Maybe they're really important...you know, high risk people?" Tonks inquired.

"Perhaps. Or maybe they've just been unwilling to join." Bill shrugged.

"Are they coming here?" Sirius asked.

"Probably. Dumbledore'll be making a visit sometime soon, probably arranged a meeting." Bill said.

"And you don't know who they are?" Remus asked and Aero caught him cast a quick glance at Sirius.

"Nah. Dumbledore didn't give names, seemed happy they were rejoining though." Bill replied.

"Any word if there was a girl?" Sirius asked casually, staring at a burnt mark on the table.

"Might be. Think he said there were some siblings coming in, three of 'em if I remember correctly.

Aero watched Sirius intently, watching his eyes flick up to stare at Bill before pursing his lips almost indifferently and nodding. Remus was frowning, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Sound familiar?" she wondered.

"A...little. There were three sets of siblings before, if I remember correctly. The Prewett brothers, the Cavanaughs, and the Dumbledores." Remus told her.

"Dumbledores?" Charlie asked, finally getting his face back to normal thanks to his mother.

"As in plural?" Tonks added.

Remus nodded.

"Dumbledore, and his brother Aberforth. He runs the Hogsheade Inn."

Tonks and Charlie both had looks of surprise on their faces.

"The Prewetts are my uncles, now we know about the Dumbledores. Who are the Cavanaughs?" Bill inquired.

Remus cast Sirius another glance and Sirius seemed to have perked slightly, though still staring elsewhere.

"The Cavanaughs went to school with us. Two Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw if I remember correctly. Daelyn, the sister, was in our year. Then her two younger brothers, twins, Masen and Magnus. We lost contact, like we did with almost everyone else, after Voldemort's downfall..." Remus said, looking crestfallen.

"Were you friends with them?" Tonks asked sympathetically.

"I-yes. Daelyn was a friend of ours, and we fought alongside her brothers multiple times." Remus told them, gesturing to Sirius.

And then it clicked. The D-something Sirius had told her about, the girl he had loved or something, her name was Daelyn. _Daelyn Cavanaugh_.

"Don't look so sad, Remus. You may have lost touch, but they're all alive." Tonks said.

"We don't know that." Sirius muttered.

"But obviously, the three siblings coming back..."

"We don't know it's them. There were more than three Cavanaugh's. And they could be other allies of Dumbledore's from the first war. Doesn't mean it's them." Sirius said gruffly.

Apparrently sensing the dismal atmosphere at the topic, Bill changed the subject to that of hearing rumors from mutual friends that Charlie had found a romance, which Charlie quickly denied with a blush and deflected to Tonks, cheekily asking her about her own love life and she rebounded teh interrogation question to Aero about her and Fred's sex life, which made Sirius shout an angry 'OI!' and proclaim she was a virgin and Aero bounced the question back to Bill regarding his 'English training with Fleur Delacour' to which Molly Weasley said absolutely nothing was going on with that French girl who was much too young for Bill regardless.

On her way out of the kitchen with a coveted sandwich made behind Mrs. Weasley's back for Charlie, otherwise the older woman would have protested he'd ruin his dinner, Aero and the others, Tonks and the elder Weasley boys, came face to face with some new faces.

There was a man and a woman at the front, probably around Sirius and Remus' age yet undeniably younger looking, like how the two should have looked if Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban and Remus wasn't stressed about everything so much. And then Aero blinked. Several times.

"Mrs. Spinett?" she asked, astonished.

The woman looked around at her and paused in her walking. She was taller than her daughter by a few inches, with dirty blonde hair, some dark brown streaks running through it. She had deep blue eyes, and while her coloring didn't really match Alicia's, her face was practically in the same image.

"Ah, Aero dear. I didn't know you were here. What a surprise. How are you?" Mrs. Spinett asked warmly.

"A-ah, fine. Thanks. I've definately had uhm...better days." Aero said with a shrug.

Mrs. Spinett's eyes softened considerably.

"Dumbledore told us about the recent...events. My condolences on your heavy loss. All of you." she said.

And this time, when someone said their condolences, she actually believed it.

"Thank you." Tonks said.

Charlie nodded in response.

The man, Mr. Spinett, a very tall and broad shouldered man with Alicia's coloring cleared his throat, giving them all a smile before taking his wife's hand.

"Samantha, we must be going if we're going to meet up with Dumbledore..." he reminded her.

Mrs. Spinett jumped a little and smiled again, nodding. "You're right of course, Jake, my apologies."

She looked back at them all for a second and said "See you all later" before entering the kitchen. The rest of them stood outside the door for a moment and heard Remus utter a suprised exclamation, greeting them both, just as Sirius did. Obviously, they had been inthe Order before as well.

"Mrs. Spinett's in the Order? I never knew that...I wonder if Alicia knew that." Aero muttered, walking into the Parlor room as Tonks ran upstairs to get Selena.

"From what my parents told me, from what they learned from my uncles of course, is that a lot of people fresh out of Hogwarts joined up in the Order, like the Potters and Sirius and Remus. Word had gotten around and those who were loyal to Dumbledore, like the ones I just mentioned, joined up. Maybe they went to school with Sirius and Remus?" Charlie asked.

"I'm still wondering about the others that Dumbledore said were coming. The Spinetts are here, which means Dumbledore will be here soon, which means the others have to be coming as well, right? Sirius and Remus seemed slightly tense when I mentioned them." Bill said, leaning back into a chair.

Aero pulled out her flask and took a sip. She had a headache. And she still felt extremely drained. Tonks came back into the room with Selena on her hip, holding one of her stuffed animals and look sleepy from her nap.

Charlie straightened up a little and Aero felt her heart clench just looking at her. She could see Desarie in the way she jutted out her bottom lip when Tonks went to put her down and she wanted to stay held up. Stubborn apparrently was a Hale-woman trait. And in her blonde curls, which Desarie always complained were unruly and too thick to do anything with. And she saw Shane in her, when she laughed loudly when Bill made a funny face at her and the way her eyes seemed to sparkle. Shane's green eyes.

It was almost painful to look at her, her parents so evident in her every feature, her every action, and the loss so fresh. But she was her Goddaughter, and she loved nothing more than she loved that girl. And Selena couldn't have a guardian loose it. She knew it wasn't healthy to freeze her mourning, but she had to take care of her Goddaughter. Selena had no one left other than her and Tonks and Charlie.

"How're you, Lena?" Tonks asked brightly, though her eyes seemed more watery than usual.

"Sleepy..." Selena said, rubbing a fist over her eyes.

"You just had the longest nap I've ever seen. How in Merlin's name are you tired?" Aero asked, arching an eyebrow.

Selena gave her a dimpled smile in return.

"I dunno!" she giggled.

Aero gave a short, quite laugh.

"Selena, you remember uncle Charlie, don't you?" Tonks asked. "And Uncle Bill?"

Selena looked over at the two brothers and nodded excitedly.

"You gave me the baby dragon." Selena said, pointing happily to Charlie.

"_Charlie_!" Tonks exclaimed.

"You gave her a baby dragon?" Bill asked.

"No! Of course not! Not a live one!" Charlie defended.

"A dead one...that's not sanitary." Aero commented dryly.

Charlie sputtered for a moment and then shook his head.

"_Funny_. No, a stuffed animal one, of a Hebridean Black, thank you very much." Charlie stated.

Aero shook her head.

Bill cleared his throat as Tonks sat Selena in Charlie's lap and watched as he looked down at the blonde who was obliviously playing with her toy. He looked alarmed, obviously having no clue what to do.

"Uhm...I don't mean to be the one to bring up the flaming pink elephant in the room here, but...arrangments have to be made..." they all looked away quietly as he spoke.

"Whether the Minister likes it or not, Charlie, you'r her godfather. And Aero's the Godmother, and generally it's encouraged you both raise her..." Bill continued uncomfortably.

"Right...uhm, Aero?" Charlie said, his voice gruff.

Aero glanced up, somewhat reluctantly.

"Uhh...Well I was planning on staying here to stay with Sirius...and you live in Romania..."

Charlie nodded and pursed his lips.

"Well, obviously things need to be changed here." Bill stated. " Charlie? What're you going to do?"

"I can commute, work in Romania, spend occassional trips there if need be...meanwhile would Sirius mind...?" Charlie asked.

"Not at all. House is rather empty as is. We can make up a room for you..." Aero said immediatley.

Charlie nodded.

"Good. Good. Uhm, and then...well the Will will come out later, I suppose. Until then, I suppose you have a front-place to live in for the Ministry?" Bill asked.

"The twins' joke shop location. Loft above it." Aero told him.

"Alright then. Don't tell mum. There's of course, the matter of the uhm..."

"Funeral arrangements." Tonks murmured.

No one talked for a moment.

"I think you and Charlie should do them." Aero said.

Both looked up in surprise.

"Us?" Tonks asked.

"You knew them better, longer...you do it." Aero replied.

"I-" Tonks started.

"We'll do it." Charlie interrupted.

"We will?"

"Of course. Aero has enough on her plate right now, and I think that if she's willing to give us the sole rights to do the funeral for our friends...we should."

Tonks sighed.

"Alright..."

"Uhm, yes, well then." Bill said awkwardly.

"I have to go." Aero announced.

"Why?" Tonks asked.

"I want to assure my own bank account, so I'm moving some things from my parents' vault to mine." Aero said.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Charlie said.

"Why?"

"Your parents are after you. What if they find you? You're safer staying in the house." Charlie said.

"I'm not going to hide from them."

"They'll kill you."

"I doubt they'll be at Gringotts."

"They were at the Ministry that night!" Tonks shouted. "Desarie and Shane died!"

"I know!" Aero shouted angrily. "I know that! I know it should've been me out there! They died by my own parents' wands because of me! I get that! Don't you think I understand that?"

Tonks looked suddenly abashed, but no less determined.

"I'm not...no one blames you. You and Bill might've been dead if they hadn't...I'm not saying I'm glad they...or that you didn't...I just..." Tonks ran a hand through her hair frustratedly.

"I won't just sit and lose you too." she muttered.

Aero blinked in surprise.

"Tonks...I'll be fine." she said quietly.

Tonks shook her head. Her eyes had filled with tears.

"I bet that's what they thought too. It's what we all thought." she whispered.

"I'll be careful..." when Tonks still shook her head Aero sighed. "Tonks. You can't keep me locked up, hidden away here for the rest of the war."

Tonks' lip trembled and she crossed her arms over her chest, looking away stubbornly. Aero felt slightly guilty about how much her cousin was worrying over her. She gave a sigh of her own and strode across the parlor floor, reaching up on her tip-toes and encircled her arms around her cousin. Tonks responded by holding her in a tight grip that was almost back-breaking.

"I have to go...I'll be back, Tonks." Aero said before disentangling them.

"But -"

"I'll go with her." Bill volunteered.

Aero thought he looked a little too eager.

"You just want to see Fleur." she accussed with narrowed eyes and a smirk.

Bill faked being shocked.

"I most certaintly -"

" -ARE." Charlie finished for him with a roguish grin of his own.

Bill looked bemused at them all.

"Think whatever you want. I'm simply helping her with her English."

"Right. And how many closets the Bank has." Charlie muttered under his breath.

Bill's eyebrows shot up into his hairline and he thonked his little brother behind the head.

Charlie swore and Tonks gave a muffled laugh, hands over her mouth. Charlie looked at her, as if betrayed. She laughed harder.

Aero rolled her eyes, yanked on Bills arm and headed out the door, barely paying any attention to the group standing outside the room, making their way in the hall. She brushed the arm of two older men, a blonde and a brunette and accidentally bumped into a younger woman with golden hair held up in a messy bun and an Owl hooting reproachfully on her shoudler. The woman turned to look at her and Aero caught a glance of hazy, unclear eyes that when caught in the hall lights looked almost turquoise in color, and she wondered where she had seen those eyes before, before muttering an apology and walking out the door to apparrate with Bill.

* * *

"But My Lord, surely she vill come around." he pleaded.

A dark chuckle echoed throughout the room.

"She has, according to her Guardians, always been like traitors in her family, more than her parents. She has disgraced her blood for years with that blood-traitor boy. Though...both are of pure-heritage. Both from the Black line, if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps we can convince them otherwise, concerning their loyalties. Lord Voldemort is very forgiving, you see...and I dislike the spilling of magical blood, especially the richness which both pocess."

The boy nodded eagerly.

"It would be highly amusing to once again gain the upper hand over that old fool, taking two of his trusted fighters under my control..."

"You are so clever, My Lord. You could do it, bring two of his truest fighters to your side...it would weaken them substantially." Thantos Stict said quietly.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Another dark chuckle. " But I get it from my sources she won't leave the boy. They are..._in love_."

Laughter broke out around the room, taunting and mocking at the phrase.

"She doesn't know how to love, the little bitch!" Bellatrix shrieked happily.

"She's left him before. And he her." Lucius drawled.

"Yes, but would she leave him again? If she left him, you could certainly have her, Vaine...she's of pure-blood and nobility, pocessing the Black traits. If we can turn her from her strayed ways I'd welcome her to the family." Voldemort said with a wave of his hand and an arrogant grin.

"We wouldn't even be having this conversation, had she been at the Ministry like she was supposed to." Bellatrix spit, glaring at the woman on the floor.

"Dear, impatient, Bella...if we can avoid spilling her blood, the mixed blood of two of my most loyal servants, than it shall be done...I'm _sure_ Ebony dear didn't mean to give false information..."

"No...no my Lord...I thought she would...but..." Ebony whispered hoarsely from her spot on the cold hard floor, her head bleeding.

"My Lord," Snape murmured, sparing a glance at Ebony, his face impassive " I've been told that someone tipped Professor Umbridge off, who then stopped Black from leaving teh Castle via Dumbledore's fireplace."

"Oh? And who tipped off the Ministry Professor?"

"That, I'm afraid, I am unaware of."

Someone shited in their chair, the rustling echoed throughout the room.

"Someone seems to have protected her. I'm curious as to whom..." Voldemort said.

"I doubt, it was anyone within this group, as none of us would have been able to reach Hogwarts...and no one here seems to keen on keeping Black alive..." Snape replied cooly.

"Indeed. Then there is a perceptive rat at Hogwarts..._oh how fun_." Voldemort murmured with a grin.


	37. Chapter 37 Taking the piss

It seemed like forever to sort out the banking arrangements, but maybe that's just because the Goblins were difficult creatures in general, because the process seemed quite easy. Honestly, going to her vault with Bill in tow was torture, considering how much she just wanted to slap Griphook, the little Goblin man taking them through. But Bill had quietly advised her it wouldn't be the best idea, for they needed him to get to the vault.

So in the end she had moved several piles, or mountains, of gold into her own new vault, along with a few nick-nacks that belonged to her ancestors like the jewelery box or rather one of the several, from her grandmother Druella Rosier-Black. She also took a ring she happened to know belonged to someone else and put that in her pocket for later. After she was all sorted out, she, being one of the only successors with the Black name (that wasn't an escaped convict), rearranged some Black vaults, under Order...orders. Turns out Regulus Black still had a vault, though since Sirius was his older brother and one of the only surviving family members, the ownership of the vault belonged to Sirius, who wanted to make sure the other members, i.e Narcissa and Bellatrix, couldn't get in, so she linked his vault with hers and Sirius'. That whole thing was all a little complicated, but the end result was Sirius and Aero, and by extension anyone they came to care for, like Selena, were set for life.

Aero took some money from her vault and headed out, ignoring a grumbling Griphook who was muttering about how one of her rings was Goblin made. Once out of Gringotts they headed over to Diagon Alley and Bill traveled behind Aero, wondering where they were heading.

"We should really be getting back to the house, Aer." Bill stated.

Aero kept frowning, looking at all the shops.

"Not yet."

"You do remember there are people trying to kill you, right?"

She whipped around and glared at him.

"Yes, _William_, I'm quite aware. _Thank-you_." she snapped before continuing on.

As if she could forget. She'd never be able to forget. She was supposed to be the one dead, the pair of them, as it was. But they weren't...and she'd live with that knowledge for forever.

"I'm just saying...Tonks is worried as is."

"Tonks will be fine. She's in the house, safe and sound."

"But you aren't. That's the problem."

"Here it is!"

Bill stopped short and looked up at the store they were in front of. 93 Diagon Alley. It was empty inside, a sold sign in the front window.

"Where is here exactly?" he wondered.

"The Joke Shop, Bill. I'm supposed to check it out, and set up and such, even if living here is just for show." Aero reminded him.

She took the key Fred had given her before she left Hogwarts and slipped it into the lock, pushing the door open.

It was quaint. A decent size, and definatley showing the twins' dreams of having a big business. She opened the blinds and ran her hands over the dust-covered counter tops. There were stairs leading to a balcony above it, and following the stairs, which creaked slightly underneath both their weights, they found a small hallway off the balcony and followed a shorter staircase up, finding a loft.

There was a ceiling fan with dangling pulleys and a small light in the middle. There was a small kitchen connected to a small living room area that had two doors branching off to two bedrooms, one for each twin, and another door for a small bathroom.

"Nice." Bill said.

"It is, isn't it?" Aero murmured.

Through the front window she could see Diagon Alley below them.

"They're going to make it big, you know." she told him.

"My little brothers seem to have a knack for whatever they do. Charlie and his dragons, Perce and his career, the twins and business, and Ron and Ginny will no doubt both find their places." Bill said quietly.

Aero glanced over her shoulder and met his eyes.

"You're proud of all of them, aren't you? Even Percy."

Bill sighed and flicked a finger at his fang earring.

"Even Perce. I may not agree with ihs choices but...he's fighting for what he believes in. Which I guess is all I wanted for him, to find something he loved. He was always the odd one out, you know? I used to be afraid he'd never find the spirit to really go for something. Guess I never had to worry...everyone gets put into Gryffindor for a reason."

Aero looked at him quietly. Percy could do whatever he wanted, and no matter what he did, no matter how angry they got with him, he always had people to go back to... the idea was foreign, but hearing Bill say that, it projected a slightly warm sensation.

"It's the same with you and your little mismatched group, isn't it?" Bill asked.

"Hm?" she hummed, inspecting a bent blind.

"Well I mean, you're acquired some strange siblings over the years. Harry Potter and his rival, Draco Malfoy, and the little Neville Longbottom, despite your intertwined histories. Do you ever worry about them, how they'll turn out? After everything is said and done?" he wondered.

Aero frowned, staring hard down at a piece of dust.

"I worry about all of them, constantly. I worry so much at times I feel sick. Neville lacks so much confidence, I wonder if he'll ever believe in himself. Harry is so tortured inside I wonder if he'll ever be able to fight off his demons. Draco is so conflicted, I wonder if he'll ever know what he truly wants. I wonder and worry, possibly more than the average sibling. They're all so involved in everything, and I can't even keep all of them on the same side. At least Percy is more neutral to everything, he's not fighting against you all. Draco and Harry could kill each other, or Neville could get caught in the middle, and then I'm suppose to watch over all three." she admitted.

"It's certainly tough, being the caretaker to so many people. They're all so ruddy different..." Bill said with a grin.

"Can't agree on a single thing." Aero agreed.

"Wouldn't trade them for the world. Aer, I know you just took a big hit, losing Desarie and Shane. I know you've got a lot on your plate, what with raising a kid now. But...you can't lose yourself, alright? I've seen people do that. The grief takes them over. I forbid you to lose yourself. Like we just discussed...you've got three boys who need you, whether they want to admit it or not. And now a kid, plus my twins love you, and they're like over-sized kids anyways..."

Aero snorted.

"They are." Bill said with a grin. "I just...I don't want you blaming yourself. Alright?"

Aero shrugged and nodded at him in understanting. In reality, they both knew she still blamed herself. It was after all her parents who killed them, and it was supposed to be her. But they let the topic drop and Aero and Bill apparrated back to Grimmauld place.

Tonks came out of the parlor room, flinging herself at Aero and nearly knocking her over.

"Where have you been! I thought you were only going to Gringotts! What the hell kind of bank transaction takes four hours! Where on Earth have you been! Honestly, giving me a heart attack like that, I didn't know where you were, and Mrs. Weasley's asking all these questions and she's mad as a raging hippogriff about you two leaving the house without permission!" Tonks ranted.

Aero blinked rapidly at her cousin and Bill looked quite alarmed about the bit concerning his mother and took off up the stairs, claiming he was tired. Charlie poked his head out of the parlor room, around the door just was Mrs. Weasley came shuffling towards them.

"Where is that boy! He leaves without telling me, no note, gone for hours!" she fumed.

"I believe he's upstairs, Mum. Said he's waiting for you." Charlie said with an innocent grin.

Mrs. Weasley huffed, gave Aero a pat on the head, and stormed up the stairs. A moment later there was a banging of a door crashing open, a surprised yelp and a string of motherly insults about being careless and reckless and then the Portrait of her Great-aunt started up and Aero groaned, ducking Tonks' arms and running into the kitchen.

Remus looked up from his tea and raised a curious eyebrow as she came crashing in, flushed. He set the news paper down.

"Rough day?" he asked.

"Everyday." she muttered.

Sirius came out of the kitchen, a thick slice of bread in his hand and half stuffed in his mouth.

"Whar yoo been?" he asked.

Remus made a slightly disgruntled face.

"Sirius, honestly. Swallow first."

Sirius rolled his eyes at the werewolf before plunking himself into a hard wooden chair and kicking back on two legs.

"Been to Gringotts and -" Aero checked over her shoulder to make sure Mrs. Weasley wasn't coming in after her " the twins' shop."

"Really? So they're going through with it?" Remus wondered.

"Well, those two are somethin', getting it past Old Yella out there." Sirius said with a roguish grin.

Aero paused and turned to further examine her cousin in her seat while he stuffed more bread in his mouth and she picked off a piece with her fingers. His eyes were rimmed red and bloodshot, a sway to him as he moved and a slightly glazed look in his eyes.

Sirius was drunk. Heavily so, she decided, as he missed his mouth and knocked a bread-filled fist into his nose.

Which, Aero thought, meant she had missed something vitally important while she was away. Sirius could hold his liqour better than anyone she knew, including herself and Mad-eye. His alcohol tolerance was high and sometimes you could barely tell he'd ever had a sip that day. He never had the bloodshot eyes or the over-done sway in his step. He never lost his balance or knocked something over. It was natural almost for Sirius to drink. It would be more unnerving if she came home and he hadn't. But whereas usually Sirius would have a natural, elegant sway to him, with clear eyes the color of an oncoming storm, the scent of Whiskey and cologne mixed pleasantly together and a natural charm to him...

He didn't have that now. No. Sirius was heavily intoxicated. Something had happened but she wasn't sure she could voice her concerns in front of him. When Sirius got drunk...he lost his head a bit. He became slightly volatile, some could say. Sirius had different intoxicated states. It tooker her a while to recognize them all, but she had gotten them down.

Sirius was practically naturally drunk most of the time. Just enough to be able to tolerate his new environment. That was always. He would be pleasant, charming and witty. It worked best for him.

Then when he wanted to forget a specific thing, like a round of nightmares from the previous night, he'd drink a little more. He'd just become a little surly and sarcastic.

And sometimes, like the time they both got pissed in her room, it was when he was already trying to get away from the nightmares and then something else would occurr and he'd have an amazingly low tolerance for his liqued friends. When he was just exhausted.

But this drunk, this piss ass drunk Sirius, but one she hadn't seen before, and only heard of from Remus on occassion. This Sirius meant he wasn't fighting one of his demons, he wasn't just tolerating his house arrest. He was apparrently just numbing himself and burrowing his sorrows, whatever they were, at the bottom of the bottle.

"I miss anything?" she asked cautiously, though trying to keep a light tone for Sirius, who was nibbling away on his bread.

Remus cast Sirius a glance before wearily meeting her gaze.

"Some friends came by. Lots of memories." he said quietly.

Sirius gave an ungraceful snort.

"She looks just like her, Moony." he said gruffly, swallowing a rather large peice of bread.

Remus' face softened as he gazed at his friend.

"Chew first, Pads." he advised his softly.

Sirius gave a slight hiccup and brought his eyes towards Remus. Aero was alarmed by the not just glassy-drunk look, but the pained, tear-filled one.

His chin trembled at his effort to keep his bottom lip from shaking. His eyebrows scrunched up and he gave a sniffle.

"Looks just like her, Moony..." he said in almost a low whine, like a dog.

Remus' face crumbled.

"It's alright, Pads..." he soothed, getting up from his chair.

"Why didn't she come?"

"I don't know. I don't know, Padfoot..."

Sirius gave another hiccup.

Remus encircled his arm around his friend's shoulders and hugged him into his side, almost like he was comforting a child.

Sirius cast his gaze towards Aero who was getting up quietly to leave the room, unwilling to crowd her emotionally distraught cousin. He suddenly stuck an arm out, his wand shooting at the door and it closed with a slam and locked. Aero brought her hands up in surprise and turned to look at him questioningly. Some people might be afraid to be locked in a room with a drunk and distraught Sirius Black, but she found she got some sort of relief, knowing she wasn't the only Black who was constantly breaking down.

He hiccuped again and waved his wand and the cabinet opened and several bottles shot out and slid onto the table.

"Sirius no. You've already had too much to drink." Remus protested.

"Not nearly enough." Sirius told him.

Remus glanced at Aero.

"Well why have you insisted on keeping your baby cousin in here as well?"

Sirius picked up a bottle and then slid it across the table and Aero had to move forward to keep it from falling over the edge. She shited the bottle between her hands, looking uncertainly at Sirius.

"Drink." he encouraged.

"Sirius, Selena is just upstairs!" Remus chided him.

"She just lost two friends in one night and gained the responsibility of a child and had to quite her position at the Ministry and leaving Hogwarts. She needs a drink. I would. I did, when Prongs and Lily..." Sirius trailed off, giving a rather loud hiccup this time and grabbed a bottle for himself.

Remus made a pained sound, like a wounded animal.

"Pads, you're not Aero..."

"Damn well close enough. Like looking through a fucking mirror sometimes...only it's like me in a skirt." he muttered.

"I think you could pull one off quite well." Aero informed him, sliped into a chair and tipping the bottle.

"Oh really? You think? 'Cuz James and I were never quite sure and Evans refused to take part..."

"Oh yes. You have better legs than even me."

Sirius gave a bark of laughter, though it didn't hold its usual contagious light to it, at least he was laughing.

He took a large sip of Whiskey and gave a slight cough. Aero followed suite and Remus shook his head at them.

"You know...I think you're right Sirius. Your reality-escaping methods are uncannily similar." Remus muttered.

Aero had stopped listening to Remus by now, which was probably a bad sign, since he was generally right about things though both Black cousins would never tell him that; like when he said Mrs. Weasley probably wouldn't like their methods. Of course she wouldn't. She tended to still treat Aero like she was thirteen and Sirius like an irresponsible teenager. Though she loved her, she could be a little smothering, and right then she had never loved Sirius more for his suggestion to just get pissed.

She felt as if she hadn't exactly had time to feel the full effects of their deaths. She had had so much to do, so much to think about that required her having a level head free of crippling emotions. Like mourning and grief. The grief was crippling. But the guilt was paralyzing. She'd never felt more horrible in her life. Not even all the times she broke down during the school year, which she was still trying to live down. No, this time she couldn't hide from it. There was no curling up in a ball and pushing out the world. She had to take care of Selena, who had just lost her parents. Which she and Charlie still had to explain to her.

And then on top of that, she was now a drop-out. And out of work.

So she was a teenager, a drop out, unemployed, a grieving friend, supposedly living in a flat with her boyfriend and his twin, and a parent of sorts to a recently orphaned toddler with her boyfriend's older brother. All in one night. Merlin, no wonder she was perpetually exhausted.

She blinked the thoughts away and tipped the bottle to her lips again and before she knew it she was on the second one. Her first lay overturned on it's side, somehow steady, beside her, and a new one was in her hand. She and Sirius were bumming cigarettes off each other. Her feet were crossed at the ankles on top of the table, Sirius was still leaning back in his chair on two legs, currently humming a loud, off-key song to them with his eyes shut and head tilted back at he took a shot, and Aero was pretty sure he made that song up himself in two seconds. Remus sat at one of the ends of the table, munching on a ruby red apple and reading the paper, occassionally giving a comment or two or reading a section to them with a furrowed brow, which would then get them all into a spirited debate about the price of cauldrons or shortage of sage.

"I cannot believe they...they have the gall to charge that many galleons for a simple rodent." Sirius protested.

"It is rather outrageous." Remus agreed.

"Oh I don't know...rather depends on the quality rat." Aero said airily, waving a bangled wrist in the air as she followed a fruit fly around the room with her eyes.

"Peter certainly wouldn't be sold for that fucking much, the sodding -" Sirius stated.

"Sirius, do mind your tongue." Remus chided absently while Aero snickered into her bottle.

"You could mind it for me." Sirius suggested with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

Remus choked on a bit of apple and went wide eyed and Aero made a blowing noise as she tried to keep herself from spraying her drink across the table at the comment, then swallowed and cracked up, coughing slightly.

"Sirius I don't think - oh. More of you two's humor. Could've told me you were being sarcastic." Remus said, frowning at them.

Aero was hunched over in her seat over her knees, still laughing and Sirius gave a loud bark of laughter.

"Oh? Dissapointed? I'm sure we could arrange something, Moony." Sirius told him.

Remus sputtered for a second before Aero spoke, saving him from trying to make a witty retort.

"His tongue is specially reserved for our cousin, Sirius, you know that. I know it's been awhile, but contain yourself man!"

Sirius guffawed and Remus' cheeks grew warm.

"I could get any woman I wanted." Sirius told her then, finally catching her taunt.

Aero rolled her eyes.

"Maybe, if she lived under a rock and had no idea she was shagging a convict."

"Oi! Bad boys are extremely attractive to the female population!"

"Yeah, when you're sixteen and rebelling against mummy and daddy! Now it'd just be illegal."

"It wasn't illegal before one hit adulthood?" Remus asked, trying to recover from his humiliation of the tag-teaming cousins.

"Course not. Teenagers are stupid and don't know what they're doing. Now, Sirius, I reckon I could find you a nice rebellious bird, have to be seventeen thought to be legal -" Aero said thoughtfully.

Remus sighed and groaned up at the ceiling.

"I think he's thinking he's in the clear, whatta you think, Aer?" Sirius said.

Aero smirked and looked at Remus.

"Uncle Moony, do you want to shag Tonks?" she asked innocently.

"What are you doing!" Mrs. Weasley called suddenly, standing just inside the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"They're harassing me!" Remus cried.

"Are not!" they chorused indiginantly.

"Have you all taken the piss?" she shouted.

"I reckon perhaps." Sirius told her, well, seriously.

Remus then started coughing, having a right fit, and Aero and Sirius glanced over at him curiously, to find his face a violent pink and his eyes glued to the table. Both with new glints in their glassy eyes, they turned to see their cousin standing just behind Mrs. Weasley, peeking over the woman's shoulder curiously. And then her eyes grew wide as she saw her cousins staring at her like vultures eyeing prey.

She gave a yelp and sprinted away up the stairs and they heard her trip over the top step and Sirius broke into another fit of laughter. Remus was staring worriedly up the stairs.

"If you go now, she might let you kiss it better." Aero said with a wink.

Remus promptly threw his half-eaten apple at her. Sirius fell out of his chair, laughing on the floor, and Aero knocked over her empty bottle with a crash and looked apologetically up at Mrs. Weasley with a smile. The woman, now assured she was the only sane person with the maturity level higher than a rowdy teenager in the house, gave a large sigh like she was being deflated and raised her eyes to the ceiling as if in prayer.

* * *

**Uhm, I'd like to start by apologizing for the outrageously long wait for this chapter. I've had a rather lot of domestic drama going on lately that I felt required my attention and therefore left me unmotivated to write. Secondly, I know this is kinda like a filler chapter. We'll get to the actual important stuff again after this one, which will be within the next few days, I swear, I just wanted to get this out there and stop the waiting. **

**IMPORTANT: Or not really, but I got a tumblr, not one specified for my writing, which I do infact have, but Idon't like that one. I got another one, one I actually check, so if you wanna yell at me if i'm ever late again for an update, or follow me there, because sometimes I'll post previews for one of my stories on there, answer any questions whatever...follow me? I always follow back, and answer every question. **

**Suckonthatlemon . tumblr . com **


	38. Chapter 38 Spartan Training

Never could Aero ever imagine having to explain something as complex as death to a toddler. A toddler going through the stages of 'why?'. A child that was her goddaughter, her responsibility, her charge or ward or whatever someone wanted to call her. A toddler who now had to learn why her parents weren't coming back. Why they weren't going to tuck her in at night. Why they weren't going to be a breakfast. Why they weren't going to be there when she had nightmares or when she got sick. Why she'd never hear them say 'I love you' ever again.

It jilted her stomach. It froze her heart and stunted her mind. How something so horrible could happen to such good people. How it could happen to such a sweet, unknowing innocent little girl. She supposed it would be worse, when Selena got older, when she had to tell her that her parents were dead because of her own godmother, because Aero's parents did it. Like the guilt Aero felt now wasn't bad enough. It would only get worse...

But seeing Selena's green eyes well up with big fat tears, seeing her chin tremble under her bottom lip, see the red flush enter her skin.

"_But where did they go?" _

_"Heaven." _

_"Why?" _

_"...Because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time." _

_"Why?" _

_"Because...because they didn't know. Because no one knew..." _

Seeing those symptoms of despair creep into her little face was crushing. Even Charlie, who had remained relatively calm during the explanation, teared up. Aero felt her heart break with every fall of every tear. It was then, when she saw the heartbreak on her Goddaughter's face, a face she vowed to protect, that a new source of hatred for her parents sprung. Not just because they had killed her friends. No. But because they had once again tore apart the life of a young child who had nothing to do with this war. Who didn't deserve this pain and the following hole in their heart that would never leave them. It was like Neville all over again. And Aero practically shook with rage.

And as she lifted the wailing child into her arms, cradeling her protectively against her, she silently vowed revenge on her parents; on anyone who had any part in this, and on anyone who sided with the Death Eaters, who thought this was alright. The pain on Selena's face, the pain in her heart, could never be erased. Her goddaughter would always know this pain. And for that, no one would ever have mercy from Aero Black.

* * *

She didn't release Selena from her arms for the rest of the day. She held onto the constantly crying girl, while Charlie did everything he knew to try and offer her some comfort. Aero just bounced her on her hip, like when she was a baby, and made soothing noises. Selena rested her head tiredly on her godmother's shoulder and fisted her shirt, occassionally rubbing her tiny fists furiously against her eyes as she wailed.

She cried and shrieked and wailed all through the day. She probably didn't graspthe full thing, but she knew enough to know she'd never have her parents again. And that upset her. Multiple times, when she paused from her wailing to gain oxygen for teh next round she'd hiccup roughly and give a whimper for one of her parents, calling their names, until she recognized the silence and once again knew they weren't there and took up crying again, so loud and so long that her face turned violent shades of purple as she suffocated herself in her screams.

Aero just held her, crying herself, and walked around the room. She couldn't take her out, for she'd awake the portraits. She they stayed in her room. Aero bounced her on her him, holding her tightly, eyes blazing through her tears. While Selena mourned Aero craved blood. She'd never wanted her parents dead so much in her entire life. Even when she couldn't remember them and based her hate off their legendary crimes, even when she found her memories of their abuse, or even when she touched the memory of the Longbottom's torture...nothing compared to this. Because nothing compared to Selena's heartbreaking, pain-filled wails that echoed inside her mind.

Charlie sat on the floor, leaning back against the bed, his head in his hands, occassionally shaking with a sob. members of the Order peeked in to check on them. Sirius refused to enter, and Aero didn't blame him or Remus either. She understood this probably reminded them too much of Lily and James. Actually, it was a lot like that. They had been murdered in one night, leaving an orphaned child, because someone trusted had betrayed them. And Shane and Desarie had died together, even holding hands, no doubt when they realized they wouldn't survive. Selena was an orphan. And someone had betrayed them. Technically, they had betrayed Aero, who hadn't turned up...

Aero frowned. Someone had betrayed her, to kill her. And then obviously someone tipped off Umbridge, knowing of the other betrayal, to spare her. But she couldn't wrap her mind around the little drama that was quickly becoming her life. Who would betray her? Obviously someone in the Order. But then who would know enough about it to tell Umbridge so that the woman would have exactly enough time to catch her and stop her from leaving?

Several people had come in to say that Dumbledore wanted to speak to her. She slammed the door in their faces. Tonks had come in and now lay under the blankets of the bed and had cried herself to sleep. Several Owls had come through the window and several letters lay on the floor. Katie, Oliver, Alicia, Harry, Ginny, Lee, Neville, Hermione, Ron, Angelina, Fred and George, Darius and Dean, several others from school and friends of Charlie and Tonks'. They had all written. Fred more than the others, though Harry and Neville were a close tie. Charlie received several from his siblings and from one particular person from Romania several times. Tonks had several from her mother and father.

"We can't trust anyone..." she muttered angrily.

"We should talk to Dumbledore..." Charlie said gruffly.

"Why? He couldn't detect a spy the first time around, he won't be able to find this one." Aero said with a bitter scoff.

"We have to trust Dumbledore..."

"Who says? Who says we have to trust him? He said he'd keep my parents away. Lie. He said we have to trust each other. Where in the hell did that get us?"

Charlie shrugged mournfully.

Truth was, neither one was up for talking to Dumbledore. Charlie was too exhausted, to emotionally numb. Aero was too angry. She would lose it if she had to sit there and see the pity in his eyes and listen to his 'all knowing' spiel. The man, obviously, was a horrible judge of character to allow two spies in. Not to mention, she heard the stories about him befriending Grindewald. Bad judge of character. Horrible. Never learned from his mistakes.

Tonks moaned sorrowfully in her sleep, the sound slightly muffled by the layers of covers. Selena's wail hit a high pitch and Aero cringed. Charlie gave a groan and hid his head in his hands again. Aero smelled chicken from the kitchens and her stomach heaved. She stopped pacing and closed her eyes, scrunching up her nose and felt the acid from her empty stomach come up. She pushed it back down with every bit of restraint she had left. She felt suddenly naseous. She got an awful case of vertigo and leaned against the wall as Selena continued to cling to her shirt and wail mournfully.

She breathed through her nose until it passed. She blinked as she regained her vision and sighed. She was now officially messing up her health. But instead of wanting food, all she wanted was a cigarette and booze. She wanted to lose herself in the bottom of the bottle, but she knew that with Selena around, right now she had to be sober...as painful as that was.

Aero slid down the wall, Selena adjusted her position and hiccupped, and then continued screaming. Aero closed her eyes and slammed her head against the wall.

* * *

A chill was in the air, the sky was clouded over and gray. A giant shaggy black dog looked on from under the tree with somber eyes. Remus stood beside him, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his best shabby coat on. Tonks stood beside the grave sight, a hand covering her eyes with hunched shoulders. Charlie stood beside his older brother whose arm rested tightly around his shoulders. Charlie's hand was connected to a stoic faced Aero by a small blonde girl dressed in a fine black dress with glitter and teary, confused eyes.

Mad-eye stood to the side with Kingsley, talking quietly with Ted Tonks. Andromeda placed a slim, ringed hand on her niece's shoulder before moving on to console her daughter. Dumbledore stood at the back of the group, hands linked in front of him. Charlie and Aero had so far ignored his presence. McGonagall was even there, standing stiffly beside the Headmaster as she stared at the gravesight of the two who had been her students not so long ago.

Hestia Jones was there, as well Ebony, who was holding the hand of her daughter, Xoe. A few friends from school, that hand been classmates with Desarie and Shane, as well as Charlie and Tonks, stood by, crying or speaking softly to one another. The old woman who used to babysit Selena when Desarie and Shane had business stood there, weeping silently. The people Aero and Bill had run into before leaving for Gringotts in the hall were there, several feet away from the tree that Sirius and Remus occupied. Aero now knew them to be three of the Cavanaugh siblings. She had no idea how many others of them there were, or if any more of them were in the Order. The owl on the blonde woman's shoulder hooted mournfully.

And then the others were there. The ones Dumbledore retrieved from Hogwarts on account of a family disaster.

Fred was there, standing beside Aero with a hand through her free one, his face pained. Katie stood just behind her, her turquoise eyes shining with unshed tears at the loss of two Gryffindors. Alicia was with her, sniffling. George was on teh other side of Fred, shooting sad glances at Charlie. Harry and Ron and Hermione stood a little farther back with Ginny and Neville. Neville had insisted on being there when he found where they were going.

At the end, Charlie, Tonks and Aero stepped forward, placing flowers into the grave holes and Selena dropped a basket of petals in after them. Charlie lifted her into her arms and walked off to talk amongst the guests. Sirius, or rather Padfoot, was staring at the small group of Gryffindors, and Remus had a puzzled expression on his face. The Cavanaughs looked as though they wanted to come over but the brown haired brother stopped them.

And then two figures stood beside Molly and Arthur Weasley. Fleur past them to get to Bill. A man from Romania had his eyes set on a teary eyed Charlie as he walked over and clasped the red head on the shoulder and gave him a small smile. Bill's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. But Fred seemed forcused on the two figures with his parents.

Arthur reached out and hugged the woman first. She was small and slight, with a an elegant build to her. She wore a shawl over her hair and an old fashioned, yet expensive looking black gown. A delicated hand came out, with only slight wrinkles that showed she had aged well, and put it on Arthur's cheek. She had black hair streaked with gray curled up under her shawl. Her eyes were what caught Aero's attention. They were a grey-blue, much like some that she had seen in the portraits of her ancestors. She also had the elegant high cheekbones and defined features, much like Aero herself.

And the man had a deep red hair, long and tied at the end down his back, peppered with white and gray. His blue eyes crinkled when he smiled and his freckles showed up on his pale skin. His eyes were as blue as Fred and George's. His hair a little darker, more like Arthur than Molly's. He kissed the top of Molly's hand and she blushed.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"My grandparents..." Fred said, slightly surprised.

"That's Cedrella and Septimus?" Aero wondered.

"Yeah...I didn't think they'd come."

"Why are they here?"

"I guess...because this is another unity of the Blacks and Weasleys, what with you and Charlie. And Charlie just became a legal guardian and this is their...'surrogate great-granddaughter's' parent's funeral...it's become a family thing, I suppose." Fred murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tucking her into his side and resting his chin on top of her head.

"I guess she kinda is a Weasley now..." Aero said quietly.

"She's gonna be fine you know. She doesn't have her parents, and the situation isn't one I'd wish on anyone but...she's got the two most kick-assed Godparents ever. And you're got all these people here to help you both take care of her. She's just become an official Weasley. And we take care of our own." He told her and she could feel him grin before he kissed the top of her head.

"As long as she takes after her Weasley-Godfather, and not her Black-Godmother."

"Aw c'mon. Her Godmother is amazing. After all, how else would she be able to get such a handsome, charming, intelligent, brave boyfriend."

Aero scoffed.

"You know, you tend to exagerate..."

Fred pulled back to look at her, mockingly offended.

"Words can hurt you know." he told her.

She rolled her eyes.

"You're so sensetive. My big sensetive boyfriend."

"Ladies love the sensetive." he argued.

"Really?"

"What? Are you telling me that my sensetivity is not what captured you?" he asked, pouting.

"Nope. That wasn't it."

"What was it then?"

"Hmm...the fact that I knew you were the only one who could handle me...and I was the only one willing to put up with you."

"Put up,_ put up with me?_ What is that supposed to mean? Should I be offended?" He exclaimed.

Aero gave a short laugh and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

Katie came up then, looking mildly alarmed and more than a little irritated.

"That dog and the those two guys, the blonde and brunette by the woman with the owl? They all keep staring at me!" she cried.

Aero arched and eyebrow and shared a look with Fred.

"A dog is staring at you?" Aero clarified.

"Yes."

"You don't happen to have any dog treats on you, do you?" Fred asked her.

"No! Why would I-?"

"Then maybe he's just waiting so he can hump your leg?" Fred suggested.

Aero snorted and hid her face in Fred's side. She could tell Fred with grinning.

_"Weasley!"_ Katie cried.

"What? I'm not the one waiting to jump you." He said.

"You're infuriating, you know that? I don't know how Aero puts up with you." Katie said, throwing her hands up.

"Every day he works a bit of my sanity away." Aero informed her.

"Oi! I resent that accussation." Fred protested.

Aero leaned up and kissed his cheek and that seemed to mollify him.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school after this." George groaned, coming up to their little group with Alicia.

"We won't for long, Georgie." Fred assurred him.

"What are you two planning?" Katie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"And do we want to know?" Alicia added, eyeing them warily.

The twins grinned, clearly excited by whatever they were planning.

"It's not put into motion just yet, ladies, don't fret." Fred said.

"We have to wait for the perfect moment." George explained.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure your mother won't approve." Aero sighed.

"Yeah...but you'd like it." Fred said, grinning down at her.

"Does it have to do with Umbridge?" she asked.

"Absolutely." they chorused.

"Then I'll love it."

* * *

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"No idea." Remus replied, flipping to the next page of the news paper.

"What do you mean, you have no idea?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'm not her babysitter, Sirius." Remus reminded him.

"I know that! But what if she left, or went for a walk outside, and someone attacked her? What if Bellatrix found her?" Sirius demanded.

Remus sighed and put the news paper neatly down on the kitchen table. Sirius continued to get edgier every day it seemed, especially since he had been awoken that night, thinking they were going to tell him Aero was dead. He had grown increasingly concious of her every movement. He demanded he be told if she ever left the house, for whatever reason. He constantly wanted to know where she was, what she was doing. Remus knew he was just worried. After losing so much, going through so much, Remus knew losing one more person would completely destroy his friend, hence the convict's frantic actions. Aero had just been put into an ever-present danger. Until Bellatrix and Rodolphus LeStrange were either dead or behind bars, she was a moving target. And knowing such a thing simply unsettled Sirius.

"She hasn't left the house. She agreed to tell you if she did." Remus said.

Aero had infact agreed to it, though she had done so with heavy sarcasm and annoyance and clearly to try and ease her cousin's mind.

"But what if she forgot? Or well, this is Aero! She's too much like me for her own good! I would've rebelled against such a thing!"

Remus opened his mouth to reply when a shudder ran through the kitchen, the hanging pots and pans clinking together and the glass that held Sirius' drink trmbled. Remus glanced up sharply, his eyes alert and searching for signs of another security breach. Sirius had jumped out of his chair, wand at the ready. A slight, almost imperceptable trembling went through the floor underneath their feet a moment later.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius muttered.

"We should check it out." Remus said lowly.

They both glanced at each other before moving out of the kitchen. Doing a Home Revealing charm, Remus declared wards were put around the basement of the house. Sirus frowned.

"We didn't put up any wards down there." he informed his friend.

"Well, someone did now."

With a silent agreement they both headed down the stairs, wands in front of them, and were surprised the door was unlocked, despite the wards.

_"What the hell?" _

Remus blinked.

"Found her." he said.

Indeed, Aero had not left the house. She was currently on the ground in the stone basement, which had obviously been somewhat cleaned and emptied out, the belongings cluttered around in boxes on the sides of the walls. Aero was on her knees, resting on her forearms, swetting with her hair covering her face.

Smoke billowed from several boxes just behind her, scorch marks covered the stone walls and a large but shallow crack was in the middle of the floor. Standing a ways away from her was Mad-eye, wand raised at the two men, attention currently only half on Aero who glared up at him as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Mad-eye growled.

"Well considering it's my house..." Sirius replied.

"Well this happens to be a training area, which is currently in use." Mad-eye said.

"We felt tremors from the kitchen. What exactly are you training for?" Remus inquired.

Mad-eye made a sound of annoyance.

"Just because she's no longer an Auror doesn't mean I'm gonna allow her to get rusty. She needs to keep in practice. If she can't be on Auror assignments, dealing with Death Eaters personally anymore, then I'll train her for Order missions, considering she's no longer in school anymore..."

"You shook the house more than an Earthquake! What the hell kind of training is this?" Sirius shouted.

"A more intense version than the one I started her out with when they wanted her on the force. What a joke that was. They didn't want her for an Auror, though her skills were definately up to par, they wanted her to keep an eye on all her traitor friends, like Dumbledore. But that didn't mean I was about to let them send her out into the field with her limited skills. No. So I took her on then, put her through their flimsy time slot of training time, got her some more experience. And I'll do it now. But Black, this ain't playtime. Get the hell up off the ground! Death Eaters aren't gonna wait for you to catch your breath and get your barings!" Mad-eye shouted, pointing his wand suddenly and Aero barely had time to register a flinch before she was sent sprawling onto the ground again.

She hacked a few good coughs, shoved a fist at her chest, and dived towards a spot on the floor beside her, missing a jet of red light and while she stumbled to her feet flicked her hand up and shot a beam of purple at Mad-eye who stepped to the side quickly and shook his wand at her again and she bent backwards, almost making a bridge with her body to avoid his spell and simultaneously cast one of her own.

She was covered in grime, sweat and blood and parts of her black clothes were ripped. Mad-eye was breathing a little heavily, had a nice gash across the front of him and was limping worse than usual, but otherwise both seemed unfazed by everything. Aero flitted lightly away, side-stepping to dodge a curse and sent a counter one back. She made a sweeping gesture as Mad-eye shielded himself easily enough and sent another one that caught Mad-eye above his peg-leg. She was obvisouly going for his weak spots.

His leg stumbled, momentarily off balance and she shot again, stepping forward, her eyes flashing almost angrily, and shouted a curse and Mad-eye just barely blocked it, growling out his own string of hexes and Aero danced around them. The whole thing seemed almost like a dance to her. Her feet moved gracefully across the cracked and uneven surface without missing a beat, her body bent and stretched as necessary to avoid and duck the curses and her arm moved fluidly, whipping around her to send her own back. Mad-eye still had the upper hand, being as skilled and experienced as he was, but Aero seemed almost natural as she took him on.

"It's practically a Black genetic." Sirius said, noticing Remus's gaze.

"You always were gifted in DA. Regulus too, from what I heard." Remus said.

Sirius unintentionally moved his hand into his pocket, his fingers playing with the ring there. Aero had picked it up from Gringotts, where it had apparently been in her parent's vault. Bellatrix must've found it at some point and Aero picked it up, giving it to him, as she said it was the last token of his little brother.

"It's a dark gift. But...it does help when you fight in a war like this." Sirius admitted gruffly.

"I wonder what it'll look like with Aero and you, compared to this." Remus mused.

"I'm more concerned with what it'll look like between her and Bellatrix." Sirius said.

Remus frowned. He didn't want Aero fighting a skilled, and no doubt delusional, Death eater like Bellatrix anymore than Sirius did. But Bellatrix, from what he had learned from the previous war, was a woman who was hell-bent on getting what she wanted. Whether it was Voldemort's acknowledgement or power for herself. And this time...what she wanted was her daughter's cold corpse at her feet.


	39. Chapter 39 Summoned

**Oh my goodness. I am SO sorry for the huge gap between the last update. I just...I've written and rewritten this 10,000 times and still don't like it. Plus, I'm getting Marauder Honor and Life as We Know It up this week, as well as updating Secret Honor. And...working on my Next Gen Honor fic... ;) I wanna write more of those Weasleys **

**Do you guys know how excited I am? 505 reviews! You people are amazing. I might have to do something for you guys... hm. What do you think?**

**I'm also slowly going to 'edit' Family Honor, just because I had absolutely NO idea where I was going with it. I feel like I should make it smoother, not to mention add some more Fred/Aero moments when they were kids, and I apparrently forgot to add Desarie and Shane and everything in there, since they went to school together for some short time. *sigh* I'm so forgetful sometimes. **

* * *

**'Harry Potter Speaks Out At Last: The Truth About He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the Night I Saw Him Return'**

Aero stared down at the news paper. Unsuprisingly it wasn't the Prophet, but...the Quibbler. She stared down at the paper and took a sip from her coffee. She kicked her feet up onto the table and leaned back in her seat, cup in one hand and paper in the other. She scanned her eyes down the sheet and choked on her coffee, the sound she made somewhere between a strangled laugh and a hacking cough.

He had named the Death Eaters! Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle...

"Bugger and Blast!" she exclaimed, shaking her head.

Well, surely this would upset Umbridge far greater than any prank or disturbance she herself could've set.

She took another sip of her coffee, finishing the article and setting them both down on the table. She felt like smiling. That kid had just made her morning. She'd have to write him later and utter her congratulations at sticking it to the Ministry so openly.

But for now, she settled for rinsing her coffee mug in the sink and finishing unpacking some things into the loft. She had spent the night there, bringing in furniture and some cups and plates and utensils. The twins had said they wouldn't be at Hogwarts much longer, with the way things were going, and it all came down to the right moment. So she had told them she'd set up the loft. Of course, they could buy other things once they moved in officially. Until then, the story to the child services agent and the Ministry was that Aero and Selena had set up house here.

So one of the rooms, originally meant for one of the boys, was set up with a little tiny pink bed and an amazing amount of stuffed animals and dolls and the magical doll house Darius and Dean had given Selena for Christmas.

She put up numerous photos of all of them with their friends and such around the house. She'd had Tonks go out and buy some furniture with her; like a couch, a chair, a kitchen table with seating, a king size bed and some pillows. Charlie and Bill had helped her move them all in and then Bill and Charlie assembled several things, like beds and such, while Fleur, who Bill had dropped off in the kitchen with his last unloading, and Tonks helped Aero watch Selena and arrange everything.

"So, Bill tells me you are an Auror?" Fleur asked, looking skeptically at the curtains before tapping her wand on them and changing the color.

"Was. I resigned." Aero told her, looking through a box for a pan to make Selena lunch. Or rather have someone _else_ make her lunch.

"Oh? Why is zat?"

"To be an Auror you have to have a full education. I may have been in a special program, but I still had to finish school. But, in light of recent events, had to leave which meant I was breaking contract."

Fleur made a noise in the back of her throat, shaking her head and muttering something lightly in French under her breath. Sometimes the Veela would break off into French, and sometimes it was spoken so fast that event with her teachings of the language Aero couldn't keep up.

"What?" Tonks asked, blinking confusedly around a large bookshelf.

"Your Ministry, they are ridiculous! Bill says you must have just been let go because you were resisting their interrogations." Fleur clarified.

Aero paused her hands in the box and turned her head to look at Fleur.

"I thought you didn't know I left?" Aero said.

Fleur shrugged her narrow shoulders.

"I did. Bill told me of course. I just wanted to ask you myself." Aero shared a glance with Tonks before resuming her search for the pan.

"But Bill 'az told me why they brought you in so quickly, and it only makes sense that that iz why they let you go so fast as well."

Aero shrugged.

"I guess it's not really my problem anymore." she said.

"But does it not bother you that you can no longer give them false leads on your cousin, the escaped one?" Fleur asked, flipping some silvery blonde hair over her shoulder.

Aero, who had just found the pan, dropped it with an obnoxious clang on the ground and Tonks, who was hunched on her heels as she organized teh lower shelf of the book case fell over.

_"William!"_ Aero exclaimed.

There was a thud a second later and then Bill was leaning hesitantly out the bedroom doorway. He blew a strand of ginger hair from his eyes.

"Yes?" he asked wearily.

Aero stood facing him, hands on her hips and scowl firmly in place.

Charlie peeked his head around, Selena on his hip.

"You look an awful lot like Mum right there..." he informed her.

Aero pursed her lips.

"William, a word please?" Aero asked, though it was more an order than a question.

Bill raised his eyebrows at the use of 'William' from his brother's girlfriend two times in the last minute. He followed her a little reluctantly into the second bedroom. She shut the door and waved her wand, no doubt putting a silencing charm on the room. She looked at him expectantly.

"What did I do?" He wondered.

"Look, Weasley, I get you're dating and all that, and I'm fine with it. I'm completely alright with it. She's a nice girl..."

"...I'm glad you like her?"

"But just because I like her doesn't mean I trust her! You can't just be going around telling her things like why I was hired and fired and _especially_ -" Aero empasized, glaring at him now, "- about Sirius. You can tell her whatever the hell you want. You can tell her all about your exciting job and how much your mother hates your hair. Go right ahead. But I draw the bloody line at you dicussing _Sirius_ with that girl!"

A look of realization lit Bill's face.

"Oh! I didn't...I mean...I trust her." he said simply.

Aero gave a dry laugh and shook her head. She threw her arms up in frustration.

"Well I don't!"

"She's my girlfriend, Aer, and I trust her. She won't tell anyone. She told me so."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to entrust my cousin's freedom, not to mention my own, to some girl I've met all of two times just because you're shagging her?" Aero exclaimed.

"Oi! Don't talk to me that way! I don't trust her because I'm shagging her! I trust her because of her loyalty!" Bill shouted.

"Her loyalty to what? Your dick?"

"To Harry!"

Aero arched an eyebrow.

"What in the sodding hell does my brother-for-all-intents-and-purposes have to do with your _girlfriend_!"

"He saved her sister. Harry saved Gabrielle during the Triwizard tournament, even though he didn't have to. Fleur's been loyal to him ever since. She out right told me she thinks the Ministry is naive and vulnerable for not believing Harry and her and her family fully believe him." Bill explained.

"So what? So she supports Harry. She has no ties of loyalty to me or Sirius, for the matter. I don't care how much you trust her or how loyal she supposedly is to Harry. Leave. My cousin. Out of it." She demanded.

"She won't put Sirius or the Order in danger." Bill argued.

"Well excuse me for not being able to risk my cousin's life on your new girlfriend's word. Point is, I don't trust her. And until I do, she gets _certain_ information, if anything. Sirius and Harry, they're _my_ business. It's _my_ neck on the line, Bill, when it comes to the Order and how much I've covered up. _My_ neck, _my_ cousin. Until I fully trust that Veela, she gets _nothing_ on my family." Aero said firmly before yanking the door open and storming out.

* * *

It was dark and damp and covered in grime and dust and cobwebs. It had been empty of life for years; ever since its owners were carted away to Azkaban. But they were back now.

Rodolphus kicked a stray brick away, hands in his pockets as he examined what was once their living room. His long rust color hair had long since lost its shine. It looked dull and bland in color with several streaks of gray and white in it as it hung, slightly matted and far to long down his back. He ran a finger over his hard stubble on his jaw. His dark eyes looked over the room while he scratched a spot on his extremely pale torso, feeling his ribs.

Over the mantle, where several bricks were missing, stood the portrait of his parents, covered in a layer of dust as they snoozed away in their frame. He sighed and walked through the room and up the staircase. The floor boards creaked under his feet and he walked down the narrow hallway towards the one room he hadn't entered in at least a whole decade.

His hand rested around the cold silver doorknob and he lightly swung the door open. With barely recognizable hesitance, he entered the bedroom. There was a tiny bed there, against one of the walls. No stuffed animals littered the room. They never had. Not a single toy had penetrated this room. He knew there should have been. The walls should've been pink, with a little green or silver perhaps. He was never one for decorating and matching.

Perhaps a banner of Slytherin house somewhere. Perhaps if he had added something to the room, she wouldn't have detested it the way she had. Maybe if he had given her toys to play with, she wouldn't have hated him so much. Maybe if he had entered her room just once, to tuck her in as his parents had him and Rabastan, she would be more like him. Merlin forbid she end up like Bella...

He sighed. True, he had desired an heir, not a girl. And Bella had made it clear that she was only having the one child. Aeroanna, a name chosen by his late mother, was his child. He despised how she ran her life, now that she was older. Assossicating with the Blood-traitors was bad enough, but befriending Harry Potter and joining the Ministry as an Auror, living under the wing of Albus Dumbledore, somehow managing to land herself in Gryffindor and no doubt hiding that Mudblood loving Sirius Black...

Rodolphus struck out, his foot creating a large hole in the wall and a cloud of dust. He scowled at the room. Narcissa and Lucius had raised her. Where were they when she started spinning out of control. He knew he certainly would not have stood for it, had he been around. And perhaps that was the problem. He hadn't been around to keep a firm hand on her shoulder. But she was as stubborn and determined as her mother, it seemed. She had all the qualities of a child from his line, just aimed it in the wrong direction. Led astray and misguided in her youth, when she was young and inpressionable...

"What are we going to do with her?" he muttered.

"Don't sulk, Rodolphus. It's unbecoming."

The man spun around to see nothing. But he followed where the voice had originated into the living room. His mother had awakened from her portrait, her bronze colored hair a more lively shade that his, more like his little brother's. Her green eyes penetrated his own.

"She is your daughter, is she not?" his mother asked.

"She is."

"Then you, as the father, have a duty to restrain and discipline your children, or rather child. I always told you to have more than one in case you screwed up the first." his mother chided.

Rodolphus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't sixteen anymore...

"How do you suggest I bring her back to this side, Mother? She's clearly been able to avoid every other authority figure, including that of the Malfoys."

His mother scoffed.

"The Malfoys are weak being, my son. From what your brother has told me on his visits here, a boy of good stock calls upon her hand?"

Rodolphus nodded.

"Then you give him every opportunity to get to her. And when you finally reunite with the spit fire that is my Granddaughter," the woman said, and Rodolphus was surprised to see a somewhat proud gleam in her narrowed green eyes, " you thoroughly discipline her. A child must always know who is in charge. She is only this unruly because she's had lack of a firm hand, son. Punish her for her wrong doings, and she will end her teenage rebellious streak. You had one and she is having hers. Having no father has made her wild. Tame her. Punish her until she complies like I did with you, and steer the Marcoff boy in her direction. He will bring children back to this family, Rodolphus and honor back to your own. By any means, my son. Family knows no bounds, after all..."

Rodolphus gave a grin, very much like his mother's sly one.

"Yes, Mother dear."

* * *

Diagon Alley was crowded. It was always crowded. Too many people in one place tended to make her anxious now, but she couldn't deny the crowd of people made good cover. She could hide behind large groups of people at one time. Not that she actually had to hide, technically. It wasn't her who was wanted, her who was making any of the decisions. No, she just got the life-altering repurcussions.

Like how she had to go into hiding because of choices her mother had once made. Being kept out of the loop because her brother became a Death Eater and the Order couldn't trust the siblings. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She felt like she was a little kid again, like she was in the first war. But damn it, she was facing the second war now and legal age! She hadn't even gotten to make any decisions for herself and yet she was treated like she made the wrong ones.

So, it really wasn't her own fault. No, they pushed her into a stupid bloody 'safe house' where she wasn't supposed to leave or contact anyone. It was isolation, and if she had to spend one more moment with a crying nephew or a whining little sister, she was going to pull her hair out. Her father locked himself away in his study. Her mother disappeared for hours at a time. Owen was no longer having anything to do with them. The rest of them were all huddled together for hours, day after day, driving each other mental. So this wasn't technically her fault. They forced her to this.

They forced her into sneaking out. If they even bothered to tell her updates on the war and her friends, she could deal with it. Instead she was kept in the dark. Everyone kept her in the dark. Her parents. Even Dumbledore. So, she had no choice but to finally start making decisions herself. Like the one she made about sneaking out of the safe house today. Like the one where she knew if she wanted straight answers, she'd have to go to the one person she still trusted.

She briefly paused outside the door with the sold sign in the window. 93 Diagon Alley. She had heard from her mother, very briefly, that Aero was living there now, or at least that's what everyone told the Ministry. She had over-heard it actually. Her mother was telling her sister, Carpathia. Her mother rarely ever even looked at her now...

She sucked in a deep breath before turning the handle of the shop door and walking in. Surprisingly there wasn't any security. Probably because they just got it or something and hadn't had time. But Aero should know better by now.

She shook her head and headed up the back stairs visible from the front of the shop.

"Aero?" she called.

She could hear something moving down the hall, sliding across the floor. Probably a box her Godsister was moving.

She followed the sound until she came to a door. She knocked swiftly.

"State your name."

She blinked.

"Xoe Stict, you complete turd, now let me in."

-.-..-.-

"So you snuck out?" Aero clarified.

Xoe nodded her head. They were both sitting on the countertops. Apparrently, that had just been the front door of the loft Xoe knocked on. She was quite surprised to see the inside.

"Are they going to punish you?"

Xoe shrugged.

"No idea. But I had to do something, you know? Not knowing what's going on, it's maddening."

Aero nodded.

"I can't imagine being stowed away like that is anything but. I think I've caught you up to speed."

"I know. Thanks. I still can't believe everything that's happened. I mean, your parents..."

Aero sighed now.

"I'm freaking out here, Xoe." she admitted. " I jump at the slightest noise, I hate being out in the open now. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder."

Xoe took a bite of her chocolate bar.

"You can't keep living like that. I can't live in hiding forever and you can't live constantly afraid of what's around the corner. It's not healthy."

Aero hopped off the counter and took a seat at the small round kitchen table.

"Well, if you have any ideas on how to recapture and or kill my beloved gene-donors, then by all means..."

"Sadly, I don't. But...we can't live like this. We won't survive. You've never let fear get in the way before. I've never obeyed everyone else's commands before. Don't you see? We've let ourselves get carried away by everything. The drama, the war, the fighting. I mean, we've lost ourselves." Xoe told her.

Aero looked over at her.

"Oh? Well what do you want me to do, Xoe?" Aero asked with a sigh.

Xoe shrugged.

"Dunno. But you've gotta remember how to live again, and I've gotta punch the next person that tells me what to do."

Aero smiled.

"You know, I think I've missed you..." she said.

Xoe kicked her in the shoulder from her perch on the countertop.

"Of course you have! How could someone not miss me. I bet you had withdrawls."

Aero scoffed.

"Not my fault. I wasn't the one who left Hogwarts to go all the way to France for Beauxbatons."

Xoe rolled her eyes.

"Not everything it cracked up to be. I mean, my Aunt Azula is amazing and all, and learning about where my mother grew up is wicked and all, but I severely missed everyone here. It wasn't the same, you know? But I won't be leaving again. We were best friends once. I know you and Katie are close now, and I won't push her out, but I want to be close again too. You're my Godsister, my sister, the one I wish I had instead of _Rylance_ -" Aero laughed when Xoe rolled her eyes,

"and you're life is a mess, you're in danger. I love you. I want us to be close again, like we would be if I hadn't have left."

Aero looked at the floor for a moment.

"Well, I'm always around if you need another safe-house escape, Xoe." she said quietly.

Xoe made a noise and Aero barely had time to look up before her Godsister plowed into her, nearly knocking her out of her chair.

* * *

The next few days went by alarmingly fast. Aero found out how much she couldn't cook after she nearly set the loft on fire. The Ministry appointed Child Services Agent swung by and everything went smoothly. Until the door shut and Selena shattered a window when she uncontrollably levitated a toy block through it. It was one thing that drove her mental about kids. They had magic, they just had no idea how to control it.

And then Mad-eye was using his Patronus to summon her back to Grimmauld Place. Usually the Order members sent their Patronus' out for dire emergencies. Mad-eye, however, thought everything was dire and everything was being watched. So excuse her for not jumping out of her chair and spitting out her morning coffee when he was the one summoning her. And who the hell did he think he was, _summoning_ her?

She sighed, setting her coffee down and finally lowering her wand. She'd just installed yet another ward around the loft. The shop was one thing, people had to see it for business, but the loft was safely secured. Mad-eye had all but belted her when she didn't immediately secure it when she first stepped foot inside. He said it was a 'wonder she wasn't already corpse cold'.

Aero rinsed her mug in the sink before going into Selena's make-shift bedroom and picking her up into her arms. Despite the fact Aero was actually living at Grimmauld Place with Remus and Sirius, she spent quite a lot of time at the loft. She wanted to make sure it was suitable for living beings when the twins arrived and to make it look to the Ministry that they did live there. Besides, Grimmauld Place was old and stuffy and dark and no toddler or child should spend large amounts of time there.

The loft was slightly more furnitured since the passing of the Will had happened. A Ministry official, rather ironically Percy, had come to the loft and stiffly told her what Desarie and Shane had left behind. She had ownership of the house, which she intended to keep and uphold until Selena was old enough to decide if she wanted it. Charlie had control of the accounts left in Selena's name at Gringotts. Both had custody of Selena, though primarily Aero did.

She cursed the fact Charlie had insisted bringing some of their furniture in when she almost had a Tonks-like trip over a small rug. She scowled at the thing under her feet before walking to the small fire place she installed two days ago. Picking up some of the powder she muttered 'Grimmauld Place'. She hated being summoned like a servant to Mad-eye's will...

"Where have you been? I sent for you twenty minutes ago!" Mad-eye growled.

Aero turned her heated gaze to him.

"Don't 'send' for me like that! I'm not your lap dog, Mads." she excalimed.

"I told you to come!"

"No, I do believe your specific words were 'I'm summonin' you to Grimmauld Place, Black, so get your arse over here'." Aero mocked.

Mad-eye opened his mouth for another arguement but Mrs. Weasley stepped between them.

"Really now. Poor Podmore's been sentenced to Azkaban and all you two can do is bicker?" she sighed, hands on her hips.

Aero stopped short and turned from glaring moodily at Mad-eye to look at Mrs. Weasley.

"Sturgis was arrested?" she asked, shifting Selena on her hip.

"Oh yes. Last night."Mrs. Weasley said, sending a fretfull look at her husband.

"Well...won't be getting that cloak back, Mad-eye." Aero muttered.

Mad-eye gave a gruff sound in reply with a heavy sigh. He hated losing his things.

"Any chance of getting him off?" Bill asked.

"Dumbledore says no. He was trying to break into the Department of Mysteries, after all." Arthur replied.

"Really? So someone got to him then." Charlie sighed.

"Finally catching onto us then." Tonks muttered sleepily.

Mrs. Weasley made a sound and bit her lip.

"How many of do you think they know about?" Charlie asked.

"Well...they got D-" Arthur cut off abruptly with a fleeting look at Selena. "Got two of our Aurors already. Sturgis...They might not exactly know they're getting Order members. Our two uhm, Aurors weren't supposed to be the ones there, they were going for a specific person for personal reasons. They just happened to be in the Order. And Sturgis...well they might've guessed about him." Arthur said wearily.

"So what does the Great and Wise Dumbledore tell us to do now?" Aero muttered.

"Aero, have a little -" Remus began.

"Respect? For someone who breaks as many crucial promises and garantees as he does? Not a chance." she scoffed.

Remus sighed and put his head in his hands.

"She had a right to be upset with him, Remus." Tonks argued.

"I know she does but -"

"I am too. I'm pretty sure Charile isn't exactly jumping on his bandwagon right now either." she told him firmly.

Aero glanced at her cousin. They both seemed to be having problems. Tonks wasn't as brightly colored as normal and instead looked almost average. Clearly she didn't have the energy to focus on her appearance. Aero, meanwhile, had her colors changing with every fleeting emotion thanks to her lack of energy to focus, considering her hair was an angry looking red.

She twirled a lock of deep red hair around her finger moodily.

"You aren't having your monthly thing, are you? I told you to warn me so I could take cover." Sirius asked after the meeting.

Aero rolled her eyes as Selena ran off to play with Bill as they antagonized Kreacher.

"No, Sirius, I'm not having my _'monthly thing'_. Merlin, you're such a bloke." she huffed.

"Well, you're being awfully grumpy lately."

"Well maybe it's because I'm currently unemployed, my boyfriend is miles away in school and I'm trying to figure out how to take care of a grieving kid who can't sleep through the night anymore because she has such nightmares." Aero said bitingly.

Sirius raised his hands in defence.

"I know. I'm not the only one living through shite right now."

Aero sighed and ran a hand over her face.

"I'm mentally exhausted." she muttered.

Sirius hummed.

"See, this would've been me if Hagrid had let me take Harry instead."

She gave a dry laugh.

"And he'd end up more like a Marauder than Lily."

Sirius gasped in mock offence.

"Was that an insult at my Marauder-ing?"

"Completely."

"Well, I'm offended."

She turned her head up enough to smirk at him.

"If he was anything more like you and James I'd have died years ago, trying to look after him."

Sirius nodded his head, a fond smile on his face.

"True." he agreed.

Charlie popped his head in.

"Aer, I'mma take Lena up to bed. She looks tired."

Aero stuck up her two thumbs.

"Fine. As long as you get up at three in the morning for her nightmares tonight." she said with a grin.

Charlie groaned and left the room, shouting for Selena.


	40. Chapter 40 He has flare

**Holy...I am sorry for the huge gap and everything. But things got tight on time when school started, and I didn't add a study into my class schedule. So I got swamped by homework. But I dropped Spanish, so I got a study, which means less homework at home and more time to write. But I'm exhausted and writing on small time periods and I'm an easily distracted person, so if something doesn't make sense or something, ride it out with me, huh? I got a lot of exams this year, starting in October so...hang in there. **

* * *

_Tap. Tap tap. _

She rolled over, burrowing herself further within her blankets. Her internal clock said it was by far too early to rise.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. _

She scrunched up her nose in irritation.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _

A hiss echoed through the room. That blasted cat of hers that disappeared for days on end, Tybalt, was somewhere within her room. Hadn't he been at the Weasley's chasing Garden Gnomes for the past few months? Who let him back in?

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _

Aero lifted her head slowly from her pillow, squinting at the window. The sun was barely even up, for Merlin's sake! She sighed and figured she was up for the day, so she rolled out of bed, flinging the covers away and stumbling blindly over to the window. She flicked a finger out lazily and unlatched the window and a large tawny owl flew in.

"Hello, Perseus." she greeted with a yawn.

Dean Knox's owl, which had been fairly recently acquired when she left Hogwarts, hooted reproachfully in reply. She rolled her eyes.

"You weren't waiting outside that long. Besides, you're the one who woke me up so early." she muttered.

Perseus simply stuck out his leg and she tore the letter from him, scowling and the bird took off out the window.

Aero plopped herself back down on her bed and unfolded the paper, her eyes taking a moment to focus on the letters.

_Hey, _

_I recently came upon some information that I might need some advice on... _

_I get I shouldn't be writing you an all, considering your boyfriend (he is still your boyfriend right?) can be a little uptight about us being around each other. And speaking of which, I hope you know I was only trying to help. I tend to want to escape the problems in my head rather than dwell on them. He didn't have to punch me. _

_But that's besides the point. I'm writing mainly because I need an opinion, some advice. Normally I'd go to Darius, but it's concerning him. And I don't hang around too many people that I'd actually divulge anything to. Nothing important anyways. But this information is important, and I have no idea what to do with it, and it's kind of a pressing situation, hence the early morning wake-up call (sorry about that by the way). _

_I don't know if you know, but there was a girl in our year, Sage Cavanaugh, and her and Darius were sort of going out, when they were about...fifteen, sixteen? Well, she dropped out around then too. Just left. I had no idea what happened to her. Until recently. Her best friend, Lola Garcia, contacted me. Apparrently, Sage left because she was pregnant. I know, it's unbelievable. Of course, I wondered if it was Darius'. But I figured it was, because they only contacted to let me know the kid is sick. Like seriously sick. And the Medi-wizards or whatever need the father there. Even bigger thing? _

_Darius doesn't know. _

_So I guess I'm writing because...this kid, Pandora...I'm wondering how I tell Darius, if I tell him...I just don't know. _

_Merlin, talk about drama. _

_And now I sound like a prat. I should've asked how you were, I mean, with everything that's no doubt going on in your life. And you definately don't need this drama but... I need your advice. _

_- Best wishes, your friend, Dean Knox _

Aero laid the letter on her lap. Darius, the fun loving, smoking all day, drinking 'til he passes out, party all night, ladies man Santiago, was a father. She shook her head. She supposed it couldn't be too big a surprise. Darius tended to shag as he pleased. She doubted he used protection every time. She didn't know anyone who was _constantly_ prepared for it, including herself and Fred, and for all she knew, Sage took the same morning after potion she did and that didn't always work. There was always a risk. But for someone her age to have a kid, someone she knew already have a kid...it was almost unreal.

She sighed and rolled her shoulders, wincing when they creaked. Mad-eye had almost literally blown her into the ground. Luckily, she could take a beating well, and he didn't hurt her too badly, she could mostly shield herself. It was the long hours of training that killed her.

She almost forgot about the people back at school. What with everything going on, she almost completely forgot about them. She wondered if Katie brought her grades up enough. She wondered if Alicia and lee were making any progress in their relationship, and what pranks the twins had pulled since their last letter. About Harry and Ron and Hermione, what trouble they were getting into, about Neville and how he was doing in potions, or how Draco was doing with Astoria.

Tybalt hissed again before launching himself from under the bed and clawing at the door. She stood then and put on some jeans and shirt and shoes, threw her hair up and let him out. She searched around in her desk for some parchment and headed down the hall, opening the door next door a little and peaking in on Selena who was sound asleep. She had no nightmares that night.

She entered the kitchen, side-stepping Kreacher who was grumbling to himself, and felt her stomach heave.

"What's that smell?" she gasped, shoving a hand over her mouth.

Remus looked up from the pan, still dressed in a robe.

"I'm making eggs. Would you like some?" he wondered.

Aero clenched her eyes shut when they started to water and shook her head vigorously.

"No...no thank-you." she muttered, sinking into a chair at the table.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked in concern.

She nodded her head.

"Fine."she muttered.

Remus looked like he wanted to press for more but silently turned back to the stove.

"What's that you got in your hands?" he wondered.

"Parchment for a letter. Friend wrote me just now."

"Now? Must be urgent."

Aero shrugged.

"Yeah. His friend got some girl pregnant a while back, only he didn't know, and now she's sick. Pandora, the baby's name is. She'd only still be a baby."

"Ah, well that's a serious situation. Did he say what she had?" Remus asked.

"Nope. Just that he's the one who has to tell his friend, and soon. I couldn't imagine."

"Probably a good idea to write you though. Not only are you his friend, but you've got a kid to look after now, too."

Aero sighed.

"She's only about a year younger than Selena."

Her stomache heaved again at the sound of sizzling eggs.

"Are you feeling ill?" he asked.

"A little, but I'm fine."

Remus shrugged and lifted the pan from the stove. Aero frowned and quickly stood, taking her parchment.

"I'll just go write a reply real fast then, before Selena wakes up." Aero said.

Remus nodded. Aero couldn't understand how Remus could get up so early in the morning, every morning. He got up with the birds and could stay up all night. It was unbelievable.

She wandered up the stairs from the kitchen and dropped down in the living room on one of the chairs. She kicked her feet over teh side and rested her head on the other and accioed a quil.

_Hey back, _

_That early morning wake up call was necessary apparrently, so you're excused and I won't rip your nuts off for interrupting my sleep. You're safe. This time, do it again and you'll have to live your fatherhood dreams vicariously through our new father friend. _

_Well, no matter what he has to find out, right? I mean, his kid is sick, he's the dad, he should be there. I'd have him take a test just to make certain after you tell him, but still. As far as we know, this kid, Pandora, is his little spawn. Though it's completely stupid this girl kept it a secret, you know? I mean, it's not like Darius is some criminal and she's protecting the kid from his dangerous life. He's not in a cult. He's not a murderer, so I don't know what her deal is, waiting this long. Darius is gonna flip, I would. _

_But I think the straightforward approach might be best. Just tell him. You're his best mate, he needs to know, if anyone it should come from you (since this woman is too cowardly to tell him herself...). You know, I should meet her. I feel we should have a conversation. _

_But just tell him. Just come right out and tell him. At least you're not keeping it a secret, because I'll tell you from experience, secrets help no one. So you just gotta tell him. _

_And you're not a prat. I understand what you did, it was a gesture made in peace. You and Fred just...clash. I'm sorry he hit you. And everything is fine. Selena is slightly traumatized, but who wouldn't be? I think when things calm down a bit...maybe not even then. Did you know that Fred's older brother Charlie is the Godfather? This kid is forever stuck with these Weasleys, lucky duck. She's got a good group helping to take care of her, because Merlin knows I couldn't do it myself. It'll take a village with this kid. You and Darius should come visit. Maybe he can bring Pandora, I think Selena could do with a friend. _

_Well, good luck with dropping the parent bomb, your friend, _

_Aero Black _

She gave a sigh of relief when she completed her response and rolled out of her chair. One good thing about Charlie staying at Grimmauld Place until everything settled down was that he had an owl, Hooters. When she sent the rambunctious owl off with her letter she wandered down the hall again but stopped when she heard a creak behind her and the hairs on the back on her neck rose, a sign she had come to recognize meant someone was standing behind her.

Her heart skipped a beat and she reached for the wand in her back pocket and just wrapped her hand around it before something padded hurriedly across the floor boards and crashed into her knees and Aero grabbed the walls on either side of the narrow hall to steady herself, otherwise she would've launched half-way down the corridor.

She looked down at the vice that was gripping around her knees and relaxed slightly when she saw it was Selena, holding onto her legs, still dressed in her pink nightgown with the white flowers, complete with messy golden bedhead and smiling up at her.

Aero gave a laugh and leaned down to pick her up and settled her on her hip.

"What are you doing up so early, kid?" Aero asked.

"Dunno. I'm hungry. What's for breakfast? Is Uncle Remmy cooking?" she asked excitedly.

"You're always hungry. Where do you even put it all?" Aero muttered, shaking her head as they walked back down to the kitchens.

"UNCLE REMMY!" Selena called out loudly, so loudly even Aero winced.

The kitchen was empty, the faint smell of eggs still lingering in the air. Aero set Selena down at the table.

"Lena, no yelling in the house. Everyone's still sleeping." Aero chided.

Selena gave her a grin.

"Sorry." she said, not sounding apologetic in the least.

Aero rolled her eyes but smiled. Selena was never sorry for anything she did.

"Uhm...do you want...?"

Aero frowned and thought about what to make.

"Eggs!" Selena cried.

Aero sighed. Remus had made those this morning and she nearly threw up on the table.

"Seriously?"

"Eggs! Eggs! Please!"

Aero groaned and sent a pan to the stove and quickly cracked an egg. She scrunched up her nose as her stomach tossed.

"Morning." Sirius grumbled as he came into the kitchen.

Aero turned to look over her shoulder.

"What are you doing up so early?" Aero asked.

Sirius huffed, sliding into his chair moodily.

"Moony woke me up. He was humming outrageously loud this morning."

Aero quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. Uncle Remus always hummed in the morning, whether he was reading his morning paper, which he never did anymore thanks to the Prophet being ridiculous, or reading one of his alarmingly thick books. This time she was pretty sure he was just doing it to annoy Sirius. Just one of those mates things.

"You've got some nice bruises forming, kid." Sirius commented, running a hand through his messy bedhead and getting it stuck.

Aero glanced at her arms. That she did. Mad-eye was taking this training pretty seriously.

"Mad-eye says I needed some color anyways." Aero replied, rolling her eyes.

Sirius gave a yelp when his hand finally sprung free from his hair, pulling several strands out and Selena gave a high pitched giggle. When Sirius scowled at her grumpily she shoved her little hands over her mouth, still obviously laughing.

"Why is she so mean to me?" Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Sirius, brush your hair." Aero told him.

"Why? Selena has bed head." he argued.

"I'll fix Selena up after breakfast." Aero informed him.

"Well I'll fix mine then too." he said stubbornly.

"Whatever."

"Oi! Watch the stove!"

Aero turned away from him and saw the egg was smoking.

"Damn it!" she cursed, turning off the stove.

Sirius whistled and she turned to glare at him. He smirked in reply.

"You are a horrible cook, Aer."

Aero moaned unhappily, turning her head up to the ceiling.

"_You_ cook." she grumbled, tossing him the pan.

"Eggs!" Selena cried, trying to reach for them.

"Not these ones, kiddo, these are bad." Sirius said, taking the pan further away.

"Why?"

"Because...Auntie Aero killed them." he said in a fake whisper.

Selena's eyes grew wide and turned, horrified, to looke at Aero who was glaring at Sirius.

_"You killed my breakfast!"_

* * *

"Will you keep your dress down?" Aero said, exasperated.

"No!"

Aero sighed and ran a hand tiredly through her hair. She slid down the wall and rested her elbow on her knee, just watching Selena twirl around her room, her dress over her head.

"You're flashing your knickers." Aero argued.

"I don't caaaare ~"

The older girl hit her head back against the wall in frustration.

"Why can't you just do what I tell you, huh?"

Selena giggled and then sprinted from the room, singing a high pitched song as she went flying down the stairs, past a startled Charlie.

"Don't even." she said warningly when he opened his mouth.

He held up his hands in surrender and then absently scratched one of his many burns that decorated his arms.

"So, she's driving you mental then?"

Aero stared at him pointedly.

"Right then. Well, I'll just...go look after her then." Charlie muttered and awkwardly edged back out the door.

Aero groaned and slid her fingers through her hair, dropping her head against her knees. She was exhausted. Selena was a full time job and then Mad-eye was training her constantly so she was bruised and battered and he refused to let her heal them, which Remus had offered to do several times. Mad-eye insisted dealing with the 'discomfort' would toughen her skin and raise her pain tolerance. Plus she was ill.

She cried in frustration and pulled at her hair. She crawled across the room, her eye lids unbelievably heavy. She lifted herself up onto Selena's little bed and curled up, hugging the pink pillow. Her eyes found the little white nightstand and stayed glued to the picture of the laughing couple that held a younger version of her Goddaughter. She felt her heart clench and her stomach tossed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"How did you do it...?" she whispered.

How did they make Selena sit still long enough to finished her dinner? How did they make her go to bed on time? How did they scare away the nightmares, or convince her there were no monsters in her closest or under her bed? How did they make her listen when they said no? How did they discipline her? How did they comfort her? How did they do it? Because Aero and Charlie were lost. They had no idea what they were doing and it was nerve wracking and exhausting and draining. But Shane and Desarie always made it look so easy...

She watched Desarie point the camera out to Selena and smile encouragingly. Shane was watching the sky and seemingly humming to himself. She missed them. Oh Merlin, she missed them. She may have spent the majority of her time with the twins and her roommates, but she knew they were there, playing the parts of the older siblings anytime she needed them. Like a security blanket. And then suddenly that blanket was ripped away with no warning and she felt so alone and unprotected and confused. And then Selena was thrust into her life, bringing Charlie who had only ever really been her boyfriend's big brother who made rare appearances, and a new life. She was torn out of her old one and shot into this one, where she had no idea what she was doing half the time and so ultimately out of her element.

Her head pounded and her heart stuttered and she jumped from the bed and ran to the nearest bathroom before sinking down onto the floor and heaving everything she possibly could from her system. She hadn't even been able to pick up a drink or have a smoke or anything. All she did lately was run after a toddler, get beat up by Mad-eye and get sick and then crawl into bed, wanting so much for Fred to suddenly just appear when she woke up and help her. Fred was good with kids. Fred was good with her. He was good with everything. And she needed him.

Funnily enough, she remembered trying to do the independent thing, where she didn't spend so much time with Fred, by denying his offer for Christmas with his family. She thought she shouldn't lean on him so much. But she realized that he was offering himself to be her own little redheaded support beam, and it was becoming increasingly obvious to her that she needed that. And she wanted him here. Now.

She groaned and leaned her head against the cool rim and closed her eyes, sniffling. She was so tired lately. Just drained. Fred would make her laugh. Or piss her off so much she'd suddenly have the energy to send his nuts to Paris. But he'd make her forget, for a second, that everything was so royally screwed up. He'd make her feel better. Get her out of this little depressing rut she found herself in.

She couldn't even bring herself to stand from the toilet. She just threw up again.

* * *

"I thought you should know, the Headmaster has departed."

Aero spun around from where she was making the beds. Phineas Nigellus sat in his portrait, looking incredibly bored.

"What are you rambling about now?" she asked, barely suceeding in rolling her eyes at him before putting a sheet over a mattress corner.

"Such disrespect. But I shall tell you none the less, my dear. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is no longer Headmaster. He has left."

This caught her attention and she turned to her family's _charming_ founder.

"Come again?"

Phineas Nigellus sighed. He rolled his eyes.

"Your little army has been discovered, apparrently given up by a little Ravenclaw girl. Dreadful facial outbreak, absolutely horrendous. What were those? Boils? Acne? She should really have that checked out..."

"Focus please."

"Alright, alright. And so that horrendously pink woman waddled in with her. It was quite the party. Shame you weren't invited, dear. There was that angsty Potter boy, the Headmaster, the Minister and several Aurors. Friends of yours? The one we see around here, taking up space? What's the fellow's name...Queen? It hardly matters. He was very quick on the draw, with that memory charm. I saw, can you put a trick like that? That fool of a Minister didn't even notice..."

Aero put her hands on her hips, staring at him pointedly.

Phineas Nigellus waved his hand dismissively.

"You are of the impatient generation, aren't you? Can't say it's your bad breeding. Just bad raising. Now if you had lived in this house and I had been here to guide you -"

"Grandfather? Please."

He sighed. Or more like huffed.

"And then Dumbledore proceeded to pester the Ministry with his tricky words and double meanings and such, you know how he does. And he stunned them all. Refused to come back here, good riddance, there's enough of you hooligans running about already, and left. I must say, the man does have a certain flare to his tactics..." he finished somewhat admiringly.

"You tend to babble, don't you?"

Phineas Nigellus scoffed.

"One such as myself does not _babble_. Nor do you. We Blacks are highly more sophisticated creatures."

Aero rolled her eyes and turned her head, muttering, 'creatures alright..." under her breath.

"You're a cheeky child, aren't you?"

"At least I'm not _babbling_."

His lips quirked somewhat and then promptly left her, to return to one of his portraits wherever.

She frowned after him. Dumbledore had left Hogwarts. Nothing good ever happened when that old man so much as stepped foot out of his office...


	41. Chapter 41 Baby daddy

**Have I apologized for the space in updates? Because I'm doing it again. Can you tell school's started? First day back, I had homework. Ever since then I've been drowning in a see of papers with things that must be written in another language because the brain is not accepting their nonsense. Man, things were so much easier before Mathematics hooked up with the Alphabet. And I'll apologize in advance for the next random-update timing, because I have an exam starting tuesday to thursday. NECAPS has just become a dirty word...**

* * *

_Hello my little lady love, _

_I was just writing to inform you that things have gone to the goblins around here. Umbridge is Headmistress, can you believe that? _

_Your cousin and several other slithery slimy snakes have made the Inquisitorial Squad, working under Umbitch and higher than our little prefects, and can dock points. It's unbelievable. Has Dumbledore shown up? Actually, I doubt you'd tell in a letter, would you? Don't worry, I'm sneaky enough to make sure no one can read this. But you won't have time to reply to this either way. Now, I can see you rolling your eyes. Don't worry yourself, dear. Everything will be fine and myself and my less-handsome side-kick- _

There was a long streak of black ink where Aero assumed George wrestled the quil away.

**_- I am more handsome than your boyfriend, Aer. You went for the wrong twin. Aw, now he's scowling at me. But what we're trying to convey here is that we'll be at the shop doorstep soon enough. Now, if you were to get confused in your excitement at our triumphant return and mix up which twin you were to lay one on that'd be -_**

-_impossible, Georgie, because there'd be no way she could confuse one such as my marvelous self with you, you utter peasant. Isn't that right, my love? Of course it is. We'd write asking how you and our brother are getting on with raising the little golden one, but as we'll be there quicker than you can say Down-with-Umbridge, we can just ask in person. Now I want to assure you...we have a great heaping helping of love stored up for our new Head, a welcoming present if you will. Wish you could be here to help deliver it, because we know how much you'd love to give it to her, so we'll do it for you. _

_With much love, _

_Fred - **the ponce and George! **_

Aero smirked and put the letter down on the table. She sipped contentedly at her tea and tossed her feet up onto the kitchen table.

"Feet off the table." Remus said as she walked into the kitchen with his own coffee mug and book.

Aero rolled her eyes and summoned a piece of parchment and quil to her.

Selena scrambled into the kitchen, chasing Tybalt who was yowling in protest, and dove under her godmother's legs before running around the table.

"Careful, Lena." Aero reminded as she jotted a quick note down.

_Draco, _

_You better not be causing trouble. I'd say congrutulations at making not only Prefect but Inquisitorial Squad member, but I can't compliment something that means you're working directly under that vile hag. But I can tell you not to abuse the power, Draco, because if I hear word you are I will, and am fully capable, of sneaking into your dorm room and shaving that hair you adore so much right off. I think you'd look lovely with a nice shiny, hairless head. _

_Now that I'm done with my daily dose of threatening you into order, I'm dying to know how you and Astoria are. You are still together right? Because I think you were adorable together. I can't say I like that troll of a sister, Daphne, but Astoria seemed nice. And have you gotten rid of that Pansy problem? Perhaps you should set her up with someone. Blaise Zambini, or perhaps one of the trolls you keep as henchmen? Because if they don't get game soon, they may just have to settle for each other, and while I don't think there's anything wrong with that- actually, they should. Then there's no danger of them reproducing and restarting the caveman-era. _

_Now, I have to go because Selena just tried to de-tail my cat with a fork, so remember: Be good, don't abuse your power, and stop sucking-up to Umbridge, you look horrendously like your father when you suck-up. _

_Write soon, love your unbelievably amazing older cousin, _

_Aero _

"Selena, put the fork down before you seriously take off his tail." Aero ordered, reaching for the girl under the table and picking her up and forcibly removing the utensil.

She settled the tot on her lap and leaned down.

"Tybalt, bring this to one of the owls hanging 'round here, yeah?" she said.

Tybalt rolled his eyes, rubbed against her hand with a purr and put the parchment in his mouth before strolling out of the kitchen.

"Auntie Aerie looks happy." Selena commented brightly.

Aero brushed a hair over her blond curls.

"I'm very happy. Wanna know a secret?"

Selena nodded eagerly and leaned forward.

Aero playfully looked around to make sure the coast was clear before whispering "_Fred and George are coming home_."

Selena gave a big, dramatic gasp and bounced excitedly in Aero's lap. Her godmother reached a hand out and steadied her.

"Now, don't go telling anyone, got it? Especially Mrs. Weasley. No tattleling." Aero warned.

Selena's face got very serious, which was adorable, and held out her pinky.

"Swear it."

Aero hooked her pinky with hers.

"Pinky swear?" she clarified. The last thing the twins needed was their mother to be warned before they even did anything.

The younger girl nodded once, before raising her hand and making a crossing motion over her chest.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Aero nodded at her, contorting her expression into something serious looking, despite how much she wanted to smile.

"Now scoot your boot, kid, I have to go see some people." she said.

Selena jutted out her bottom lip.

"I wanna go too!"

Aero shook her head.

"No. You stay here, Charlie will be back soon. I won't be gone long."

"No! I wanna go!"

Aero sighed, rolling her eyes tothe ceiling.

"Selena, stay here."

"No!"

Remus glanced over from the stove.

"She's just as stubborn as they rest of you." he commented.

Aero frowned dryly at him.

"You must be feeling better, I'm making eggs and you're not complaining."

Aero blinked and looked at the little pan Remus held in one hand. She could indeed small the frying eggs and her stomach wasn't churning. Huh.

"Guess I just had a bug then..."

"Are you sure?" Remus questioned.

Aero glanced up at him.

"Of course. What else would it be? Whatever bug I had is gone now...why are you making eggs for dinner anyways?"

Remus stared at her for a moment, his nose twitching, and then shrugged. Aero furrowed her brow, confused, but decided best not to press it. She glanced at Selena who had folded her arms across her chest and stuck out her chin in a stubborn expression. She rolled her eyes at the child before standing, placing Selena on the floor.

"Fine. You can come. But no trouble. You do as I say." Aero said reluctantly.

Selena nodded happily and skipped from the room ahead of her, swinging her arms all about and humming. Aero shook her head, swearing under her breath, and headed up after her.

* * *

"How many floors are there?"

"I don't know."

"How many people are there?"

"I don't know."

"Have you ever been here?"

"Yes."

"Were my parents here?"

Aero looked down at the small blonde holding her hand.

"A few times."

Selena nodded silently.

They continued walking down the hallway until they came to the children's ward, which dealt specifically with ill children, not cursed ones like that one with the Elephant trunk downstairs. It didn't take long to find Dean, who was standing in the hall, leaning against the wall, staring at the ground and scuffing his boots against it.

"DEAN!" Selena shouted, releasing Aero's hand and running hurriedly over.

The suprised teenager looked up, startled, before he quickly knelt down and Selena crashed into his broad chest with a muffled _'oof'_.

"Hey, kid." Dean greeted, grinning.

He looked over her blonde head and met Aero's eyes as she walked forward. Dean stood, lifting Selena up and holding her with one arm.

"Didn't think you'd actually show up." he said, still grinning.

Aero shrugged casually.

"Had nothing better to do." she muttered.

Dean shook his head with a short laugh.

"I'm glad to see you though...and Selena, here." he told her, his free hand then moving to tickle Selena's stomach and she giggled shrilly, wiggling.

Aero smiled.

"Figured I might as well stop by. After all, we are friends." she said.

Dean looked at her and for a brief instant, a seemingly troubled expression graced his face before he smiled.

"Yeah, we're friends. Sounds nice. So, as a friend asking another friend, how is everything?"

Aero shrugged again.

"Weird, I guess."

Dean nodded.

"I bet. It'll probably take some time to adjust and everything."

"Yeah." Aero sighed. "Adjust. I'm not sure if we can, considering everything that's going on...there's a lot more to deal with than becoming a sudden 'parental figure'."

"Sounds about right, from what I hear. You told me you loved your job. The action of it, even though you didn't believe you got the job for the right reasons. Must be hard to suddenly be out of action like that."

Aero leaned back against the wall.

"Even though I didn't get much action, yeah. It was the prospect of going out there and putting people like my parents away that intruiged me in the first place. To try and spare other kids from living lives like mine. It's hard to know I can't do that now...well," Aero said with a smirk, "legally, anyways."

Dean laughed.

"True. I doubt that the Ministry would be able to stop you from doing what you wanted to do. And you don't need to be some fancy Auror to save people. You know," Dean said, turning to look at her, "judging from what I hear is coming, you'll get your action. That war that Potter is going on about, about You-Know-_Voldemort_ being back, and your parents and the Death Eaters escaping...sounds like a war is exactly what's brewing."

Aero stared at him for a moment. He seemed to look a little concerned, but not the concerned that say, Remus would be. It wasn't that 'I'm worried for your wellbeing, so I'm going to tell you not to do it' concerned face. That was the thing she liked about Dean. He never tried to tell her what to do, never tried to stop her from doing what she wanted. He supported his friends. Like now, with Darius, who had just found out he was a teenage father and his kid was sick. And when she needed to escape from the reality that scared her a while back. He didn't ask questions, didn't question why, just did whatever someone needed. He knew she was going to enter this war, knew she'd fight, risk her life, and though he was worried for her, he wasn't going to say anything to stop her. Because she wanted what she wanted.

She sighed heavily and glanced at the white ceiling.

"Yeah...something 'wicked this way comes'." she quoted. "Something big, and bad."

"You're right in the middle of it, aren't you?" he asked quietly.

"So it would seem."

They were quiet for a moment, Selena content with playing with one of Dean's tribal necklaces.

"So, she's going to be alright."

They both turned to see Darius standing there, circles under his eyes, looking hagard.

Dean pushed off against the wall, standing in front of him with Aero, Selena now looking around curiously.

Darius heaved a sigh of relief and pushed a hand through his dark hair.

"She's okay?" Dean clarified.

Darius nodded.

"Yeah, Panda's alright. She...she had this weird disease, purple spots all over her face, and you could see her veins all over..." he shuddered. "But she's alright now. Fixed her right up, they did." he said with a smile.

Dean exhaled in relief as well and grinned at his best mate.

"So, what do we have here, eh? Our little Aero has returned? And she brought a beautiful young princess, as well." Darius said with a grin, leaning over to kiss the top of Selena's head.

Selena giggled in response.

"Just came to check up on you." Aero said.

Darius put a hand to his chest.

"I'm touched."

Aero rolled her eyes.

"You know what...I think we need a drink." Darius proclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"Here here." Dean agreed.

"What say you, Black?" Darius said.

Aero looked at Dean and they both glanced at Selena.

"I wish but -"

"No buts. You're coming. Get out of that life you've been thrust into, woman. You may have a kid now, but you're still allowed to have some good, old fashioned fun." Darius told her cheerily, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

Dean glanced at Aero who bit her lip in hesitation. Darius wasn't the only one of the trio that had dark circles under their eyes.

"Is there anyone around that can watch Selena for a few hours?" he questioned.

Aero thought for a moment. Sirius and Remus were both home, and Tonks and Mad-eye would no doubt stop by, along with Mrs. Weasley at some point, and Charlie was due at Grimmauld Place soon, when he finished with his shift in Romania.

"Yeah, there should be. I'll just pop by and drop her off, and then I'll meet you guys...where?"

"Just go to the entrance here and we'll wait for you." Dean said.

Aero nodded, taking Selena from him.

"Say bye, Lena." she said.

Selena raised a hand and smiled.

"Buh-bye, Dean, Dari." she sang.

* * *

"Aero, that you?" Remus called from the drawing room.

Aero glanced around almost nervously.

"Uh, yeah."

"Where have you been?"

"Uhm, visiting a friend." she said.

"Oh? And may I ask which friend?"

"One from Hogwarts. That's all."

"Uh huh..."

"Look, Uncle Remus, I'm going out for a bit. Seeing some old friends, yeah? I'll be back in an hour or two."

Remus seemed to hesitate.

"Alright then...don't stay out too long, Aero. There's a reason we like you to stay by the house you know."

She sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I remember."

She turned to the stairs and hurried into her room. They were definately going to a bar, not like the Hogsheade or something, but one with dancing, large crowds, drinks and music blaring. They may have been magic-raised teens, but they still knew how to get into the best Muggle places. There'd be a good handful of their own there.

Aero yanked open her wardrobe and rifled through her clothes. She found a darker brown-metallic, although rather short, loose, billowing dress and paired it off with some loose worn biker boots that went just above her ankles. She tossed her hair up in a messy ponytail, colored it a crimson red and gave her skin a more olive glow before putting on darker make-up and shoving some earrings in.

She glanced at her room, once only covered with maybe cigarette butts, floor plans of the Ministry, a text book or two and some empty bottles, now completely covered in stick-figure drawn pictures in crayon, half-way dressed dolls, multiple stuffed animals, scattered little pink dresses and candy wrappers. She frowned and promptly turned and left the room.

* * *

"Where is this place again?" Dean wondered, side-stepping a man sleeping by the curb.

"Just five more minutes." Darius told him.

Dean tossed him a disgruntled look.

"You said that ten minutes ago." he reminded him.

"I didn't realize we were on a time slot."

"We're not, but we've been walking for twenty years."

"Have I ever told you you're a drama queen? Because if I've neglected letting you in on that piece of information..."

"I'm not a drama queen!"

"Clearly he's a king, Dare." Aero said.

Darius gave a boistrous laugh and Dean threw her a look, scowling.

"Whose side are you on, again?" he asked grumpily.

"The winning side. Which is mine." she replied.

Darius was sniggering, a bounce in his step, and Dean hunched his shoulders, jamming his fists into his pockets and pretended to look angry, but his friends knew better.

"Aero Black, what in Merlin's name are you doing out here?"

Aero turned her head and caught sight of a blur before she was being squeazed in a hug, her feet off the ground.

"Oliver Wood?" Dean questioned.

Aero craned her neck to see it was indeed Wood crushing her. The ex-Quidditch Captain grinned at her and set her back down, slinging an arm over her shoulders.

"What are you guys doing?"

Darius shrugged.

"Partying hard." he said.

Wood grinned bigger.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" he asked, amused.

"Well, it would seem both Ms. Black and I have found ourselves with children, as it were, and have been excused from school. Or, chose to leave in order to better take care of the runts, but whatever." Darius said with a shrug.

"Oh yeah, Katie mentioned something briefly in a letter about Selena. How are you two holding up?"

Aero shrugged this time.

"Fine." she said plainly.

Wood seemed to catch that Aero didn't want to open that topic and left it alone as they all started walking again.

"You and Katie still together then?" Dean wondered.

"Well, we're gonna try and make a go of it. Admitedly it's hard to hold a relationship down when one's in school and the other is millions of miles away working." Wood said with a sigh.

"Katie will be out soon, though." Aero told him.

Wood shook his head.

"She had a meeting with Dumbledore and McGonagal before Dumbledore left. She doesn't have enough grades to pass. Granted, she's only taking like, two classes, but she skips so much she's failing. Now, you don't need to pass classes to graduate Hogwarts really, but Dumbledore advised her to stay another year, or at least half of a year, to bring things up to get an acceptable scoring to get a decent job when she leaves or something."

"So she's staying another year?"

"Yeah. Apparrently a few from your year are staying again. You dno't have a very good bunch of kids, do you?" Wood said with a grin. "Drop outs, kids staying back..."

The three gave a laugh.

"We learn from example." Dean teased.

"Yeah, your year had twelve drop-outs." Darius reminded him.

Wood smirked and gave a one shoulder shrug.

"This is it." Darius said with an excited grin.

It was an older building, made of red bricks, some crumbling. There was a line around the side of people waiting to get in but it looked like if you had the nerve to go to the front of the line and had a young, beaufitul girl or two, you got in. So obviously Darius pulled Aero up with him and got them all in, giving a wink to Aero who then jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow.

The music was loud, sending vibrations through the floor, shaking glasses on the tables and vibrating their owns chests. There was a large crowd forming a dance floor, a busy bar at the back, countless circle tables with people sitting idly as they drank. Songs were playing that they didn't know but Muggles were shouting the words as they danced. It was dark in there, but different colored lights flashed around them and bounced off the walls. This wasn't really a bar, more of a club.

"Have you been here before?" Wood called over the noise.

Darius nodded his head.

"Go here all the time during the Holidays!"

Aero wandered over to the bar with Wood at her heels, elbowing their way through the mass of people. She picked something she had never heard of before and it tased fruity but she liked it.

"What are you doing here anyways?" she asked, turning to Wood.

"What?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" she called.

"I can't hear you!" he shouted.

Aero rolled her eyes.

_"What are you doing here?"_ she shouted.

Comprehension dawned his features.

"OH! Couple of the mates were comin' down here after practice." he answered back loudly.

Aero nodded her head and started moving to the beat. It was quite catchy. Wood was downing shots like a madman and she spotted Darius and Dean each with a blonde on their arm. Darius actually had two.

"Come dance with me!" Wood shouted, tugging on her arm.

Aero grabbed her glass and moved onto the floor. They made it somewhere in the mass, people on either side, and danced. They twisted and turned and twirled and Wood did some crazy dance he called a 'robot' that a Muggle-born Chaser on his new team had taught him. For a few seconds all there was was the club, the loud music and dancing.

Somewhere in between the earth-quaking bass and the dizzying strobe lights and the multiple drinks and the smokes, Darius and Aero could, for just that night, forget the scary new found world they had entered. And they felt the most relaxed they had for awhile.

* * *

Aero went into the shop that afternoon like she had everyday. She checked the security charms around the place she had set up and then headed up the stairs to the loft. Selena was with Charlie in Romania, helping him look after a new born Dragon they had just gotten.

She sighed, still somewhat hungover as she unlocked the front door. Sirius had found out she had been out last night drinking and was quite beside himself with boredom and decided he would alleviate that problem of his by waking her up this morning with some pots and pans he had enchanted to clan together viciously by her head and then a giant pot with cold water was promptly dumped on her. She of course, swore retribution. When she didn't have such a big headache of course. Afterwards she got sick. And Sirius teased her about not being able to hold her liqour. She advised him to stop digging himself into such a nasty hole so early in the morning.

She threw the door open and stepped inside and nearly tripped on a trunk. She swore, stumbled and caught herself. When she looked down as saw two trunks sitting together in front of her by the door. Her stomach did an excited backflip and she quickly looked up. Sitting on the small couch in the even smaller living room were none other than the twins.

Her eyes widened and before Fred even lifted him off the couch she had flung herself at him, running across the room and landing on his lap. As his arms wrapped around her, her hands grasped his face and she kissed him. She kissed him hard, almost desperately. She had missed him. She hadn't realized how much she would miss him when she left. But she did. She missed him all the time. Every night. Every morning. And judging by how tight he was holding her to him, he had missed her as well.

"I'm just going to...yeah." George said, grinning and shaking his head before leaving the room.

They pulled back after what seemed like forever to breathe and he grinned up at her.

"Happy to see me?" he teased.

Aero scoffed and rolled her eyes playfully.

"Course not. I thought you were George." she said.

_"Told you!"_ George called from the bedroom.

"Shut up, Georgie." Fred called back.

Aero smiled happily and fell to the side, her legs bent on his lap, her head on the arm rest.

Fred folded his arms over her legs and just looked at her.

"I missed you." he said finally.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted you here." she replied.

His eyes sparkled.

"All I could think about was getting out of there to come here and see you. I told you I'd help you and then you've been here by yourself."

She looked at him, amused.

"I've had a lot of bonding time with your brother." she teased him.

Fred swatted her leg.

_"Ouch!"_ she whined.

"I'm the best looking man in this family, love." he proclaimed.

George gave an amused laugh from behind the bedroom door which Fred chose to ignore.

Aero shrugged.

"I don't know. Bill looks pretty badass and Charlie's got that whole tough and rugged thing going for him."

Fred looked mock offended and she laughed.

"I love you though. Even if you are just a funny man."

Fred rolled his eyes.

"You're so mean to me." he mumbled.

"But you love me anyways."

"That I do."

He leaned over and kissed her again.

"You better not shag on that couch. I've only sat on it for all of five minutes." George shouted at them.

"...And I'm still in the house. It would be rude!" he added as an afterthought.

They rolled their eyes.

"Your brothers a prude." she told Fred.

_"I am not!"_

"I know. He must've been switched at birth. He's nothing like me."

The door opened and George stuck his head out, glowering at them, but his eyes sparkled in amusement.

"I'm going to ignore those comments because I love you both and wish not to kill you."

"You're ignoring them because if you killed us, you'd have to explain to Mum." Fred teased.

George tilted his head, smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, and that."

After a pause Aero suddenly looked between them suspiciously, grinning.

"So...do I even want to know what you two did while I was away?"

The twins glanced at each other.

"We're going to have to hide out here forever." they chorused.

"So I should tell your mother not to come over today then?" she said, trying to hide a smile.

Their eyes widened at the thought of getting caught so soon.

"Mum's coming over? When?" they cried.

"Oh, I don't know, ten minutes?" Aero lied.

Fred and George looked panic-stricken and scrambled to hide their trunks and were trying to decide where they could hide now before Aero could've sworn she saw something literally click in their heads and they stopped, were silent, and slowly turned, in sync, to look at her.

"You're joking." they stated.

Aero nodded.

"Yes."

George fell onto the floor like someone deflated him.

"Thank the mother of Merlin."

Fred stalked over to her, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.

"Oi, no. Put me down, Weasley." she ordered.

"No. I think we have to be reacquanted now."

"Freds!"

He kicked the bedroom door closed behind them and there was a muffled thump when he dropped her onto a bed.

George paused his relief-moment on the floor and suddenly looked at the door.

"Oh Merlin no, _please_..." he whined, shoving his fingers in his ears.

* * *

**Haha, I like how you all just instantly came up with 'she's pregnant.' Not that she's not. And not that she is. Even if she is, it wouldn't be the major storyline right now, so chill. And if she isn't, I will tell you, eventually it's going to happen. But I won't say definately on whether she is or isn't. It's not important right now. **

**But, I am curious now, as yo how you guys would feel about a Frero baby. How bout it?**


	42. Chapter 42 Truth hurts

**Well, I got a bit of mixed reviews for the Frero baby. Not-anti-baby, but postponed baby. Now, many of you are under the impression already that she's pregnant. I'll let you all decide whether she is or not. Again, eventually, she will be for SURE. I just won't tell you whether it's now or later. I know that a lot of you pointed out that if she is pregnant, then the drinking and smoking an whatnot is bad. I agree. But she wouldn't know if she was. Many of you say she had dizziness and morning sickness. Aero says an illness. Remus is undecided. A lot of people drink and smoke and whatever when they don't know they're pregnant and the baby turns out fine, you know, because they eventually stop. I'm just saying. If she is pregnant, it'd be early stages. Not that that's better. But again, I never said she was pregnant. Maybe I want you to think she is, but she's really just sick. Or maybe she's just tired? I never stated she was pregnant. But I'm kinda excited that it got all you guys excited :) **

**As for the ones who want some Frero-welcome-home sex scene...possibly I'll write one scene soon. ;) **

* * *

"I don't suppose we can just stay here?" Fred mumbled tiredly.

"Nope." she said, popping the 'p'.

Fred groaned into the pillow. There were only two bedrooms in this loft. One was Selena's for show for the Social Worker, which thanks to Aero's bad standings with Umbridge who had the Minister wrapped around her pudgy finger, was extremely critical. The other bedroom was the one Fred and Aero were currently occupying. There were two beds, both kingsize, since it was the biggest room and who knew what George would use his bed for when they weren't there, but despite that, George had slept on the couch in the living room after making sure he put a silencing charm around the bedroom.

"Don't be grumpy. You know I have to get up. I can't just leave Charlie with Selena. Sometimes it amazes me the man can tie his shoes." Aero muttered, sitting up and holding the gold sheet to her chest.

"But Remus is there. Surely he can help..."

"Freds.."

Fred sighed and burrowed into his pillow further.

"S'too early to get up."

Aero rolled her eyes and dropped the sheet, padding around the room and picking up some clothes.

"Have you seen my shirt?" she asked as she snapped her bra in place.

"No." came his muffled reply.

Aero grabbed her wand from the beside table.

"Accio shirt!"

Nothing happened. Apparrently her shirt was stuck somewhere in the room. She couldn't quite recall what had happened.

"I'm borrowing a shirt." she said.

"Mhmm."

"How long are you going to hide out here?" she called as she strode into the living room to rifle through his trunk.

"Until Mum thinks we've died in some freak accident while dropping out of school and thinks of how nice she should've been to us." George said sleepily.

"And then we'll show up, like two little miracles, and she'll forget about being so mad at us because she thought we were dead all that time." Fred finished.

Aero snapped the buttons of a plaid red shirt and threw her hair up into a long messy ponytail.

"Riiight. Well, should I play the part of a stricken lover when I go see her and pretend you didn't return yesturday?" she wondered.

"Oh yeah -"

"Play it up nice, love."

"You love us -"

"- and are extremely worried."

Aero just shook her head in response.

"You're both completely unbelievable. I would've thrown myself to the dementors already if I had kids like you." she muttered.

"I wondering, over here in my dreamy-haze, if we should be offended?" George mumbled.

"Should we be offended?" Fred called out to her.

Aero reached for the door.

"Oh yeah. _Play it up_."

* * *

"So, are my adorable kid brothers burrowed under ground somewhere?" Bill asked when she entered through the front door.

Aero closed it behind her and turned to see Bill, leaning casually against the banister, seeming to have been waiting for her.

"They're so far under ground they've burrowed to the other side of the world." she replied easily.

"Charlie is upstairs trying to get Selena out of a dress she spilled milk on at Breakfast. It's not working so well."

"Ah. The pink dress with the bow belt?"

"The very one."

"Her favorite. Why doesn't he just remove the stain?"

Bill gave her a dry look.

"This _is_ my kid brother we're talking about, right?"

Aero sighed, rolling her eyes and making her way up the stairs.

* * *

"Will you feed that bloody bird, Sirius?" Aero demanded.

"I fed him!" Sirius cried indiginantly.

"When?" Aero asked sourly, hands on her hips.

Sirius pursed his lips and thought and then suddenly found the ground interesting.

"That's what I thought. He's a big bird, Sirius. He needs food."

"I know that. He needs exercise is more like it."

"We can't let out a giant Hippogriff that was once sentenced to beheading out to roam in London, Sirius."

"Well he doesn't like being cooped up in here." Sirius said, folding his arms.

"He doesn't, or you don't?"

"Same thing."

Aero groaned and fell onto the cushion beside him on the couch.

"Sirius, I know you hate being locked up here. I know you'd rather be out there doing something. But there isn't much to do right now in the first place. And I'd much rather we wait and get you cleared before sending you off to fight all things evil right in front of the Ministry's nose."

Sirius grumbled something under his breath.

"It's not fair. You've got people hunting for you and _you_ get to go out. Why can't I?"

Aero frowned.

"Because. The people after me aren't the entire Ministry and Wizarding world."

"No. They're just Mass Murderers that escaped from Azkaban and are the most loyal and lethal warriors to Voldemort, the darkest Wizard of all time. And they've got a personal vendetta against you. Because why? Oh that's right. _They're your parents_."

"Of all the people giving me a lecture on playing it safe, I never expected it from you." she muttered.

"I'm not...Merlin, I'm not lecturing you. Remus lectures. I simply...point out valid things. Like how they've already killed two people who they thought were going to be you."

"Are you really going to bring that up?" she said angrily.

"I'm just stating facts. Aero, you went out, all night, and disappear during the day without telling anyone. You've got two people after you. Probably three if you count your uncle, four if you count the other uncle. They've already tried to kill you once since they got out, and two people died. I don't think you're taking this as seriously as you should."

Aero paced the room and threw her arms aside, glaring at him as he laid out on the couch. He refused to meet her eyes throughout the whole conversation.

"I'm not taking this seriously? _How can you even say that!_ How can I possibly not take it seriously for a second? I lost two of my friends! _My family_! And I'm not taking it seriously! I lost them! _It's my fault._ I know that. I know that every second. It's the last thing I remember when I go to sleep. It's the first thing I remember when I open my eyes in the morning. And it's not just because I see them, running through my mind, every _second_! Oh no, like that's not bad enough!" Aero cried.

She shook her head, angry tears stinging her eyes.

"No. No. I remember it. I remember it every second of every day like it just happened. It's always fresh in my mind. That they're not here. That they're not coming back. Because I see their kid every. _single_. day. I have to take care of their kid. The kid that looks like her mum, but acts like her dad. That is the perfect mix of both my friends. It's a perpetual knife in my gut and every time I see her, or hear her name or so much as _think_ of her, it twists that dagger just a little more. But I'm not taking my parents seriously. Right? _It's all just some big game to me!"_ she screamed.

"That's not what- CHRIST. I know that. I know that! Like I haven't been there? Like I'm not still there? I lost James and Lily. I look at Harry and that dagger is in me too. I know, Aero! I get it. I get it better than anyone else you'll ever meet. I would never -" his eyes were hard as they met hers, unyielding " - ever say you haven't been delt that utterly devestating blow. I wish you hadn't. I wish I could say you hadn't been. But you have. I get that. I get that it won't go away. Ever. Not so long as you're still breathing. How every single breath you take makes your lungs want to collapse in grief, to just stop working." Sirius stood then and walked to stand in front of her.

Aero met his gaze seemingly knowing, steely gaze with her own furious one, still rimmed with tears.

"I know what _really_ goes on in that head. I know you better than anyone, kid. Face it. Even your dear boy wonder doesn't _really_ get you. Not really." There was a sort of bitter resentment in Sirius' voice now.

"I know you. I know how much it really hurt when you got disowned. You can hate them with every single cell in your body, never want to see them again, make the plans to leave and say every horrible thing in the book to them. But I'm the only one who knows how much it hurt when they didn't care. When they _didn't want you_. When you could say every mean thing, actually leave, hate them and let them know it, and they _don't care_. That stinging rejection you felt growing up. " Sirius shook his head. She could smell the alcohol that was constantly on his breath fill her senses.

"I know you too well. You _are_ me. I know that that dagger is in so deep, is so jagged and cold, it _burns_. It lights a fire to every piece of you. It twists and turns and tuggs and you can never pull it out. I know that you blame yourself. I know the overwhelming sense of guilt. It smothers you so much you can't breathe. And that child is so unsuspecting, so unaware of the circumstances, sleeping away in the next room, holding _your_ hand, instead of her mother's. And you know why. And yet you have to look her in the eyes and pretend everything is fine. I know what really goes on in that mind of yours, Aeroanna. I _know_." He gave a bitter, dark smirk.

Aero shook her head stubbornly, her eyes pooling to the brink of overflowing, her ears ringing and face flushed. Her chin trembled and she bit her tongue as she stared up into his eyes that seemed to cold, rimmed red with his constant inebriated state.

"You don't know me." she whispered fiercely.

He gave a hollow laugh.

"Don't I, sweetheart? Tell me, does he know? Does little Freddie know what goes on in that head? Did you tell him? But wait, this goes far back before the Lathums, doesn't it? Have you ever told him what yo ureally think? What you really feel under there? Have you ever told anyone? No? Didn't think so. I mean, I didn't. I didn't even tell James. Of course you didn't tell Fred. He'd never understand, coming from where he does. Sure, he loves you. But he doesn't really know you. Oh but sweetheart I do. I know how damaged you really are. How messed up inside you are. How dark and twisty you and I are."

"You're drunk. You have no idea what I think." she said lowly, trying and failing in keeping her voice even.

"Have you told anyone how many times you've cried yourself to sleep? Have you told anyone how many times you wished you'd go to bed and never wake up? How you look in the mirror every day and not even recognize yourself? Ever told anyone that you truly fear being alone? Truly fear rejection? Of not being good enough. Because Merlin knows your parents don't think you are. I mean, if your own parents can't love you..."

Her lip started trembling. He's drunk. He's drunk_...he'sdrunkhe'sdrunkhe'sdrunkhe'sdrunk _

"Why you went out the other night. You wanted to get pissed. You wanted to get so pissed you forgot the kid at home that still doesn't know the woman raising her now is the reason her parents are dead in the first place. How much she trusts you and how much you destroyed her world. To forget how far away and unreachable your boyfriend, the person who loves you, is. To forget that no matter how much he hurts you, you'll take him back every time because he's the onyl one that's tried. To forget how much your own parents hate you. To forget about your dead friends. To forget about everything. Felt good, didn't it? But it was all there still when you sobered up, wasn't it?"

_Drunk drunk drunk drunk_ **_Bastard_**.

"I know why you have no problem going out by yourself. People, powerful people, want you dead. You've almost died several times, I believe. I know why you seem to casual about it. You don't care. You'd welcome it. Sure, you're not going to do it yourself. Never. But if the opportunity presented itself, to get away from everything once and for all, you wouldn't exactly fight it, would you? Does anyone know how much you just don't care anymore?"

She clenched her fists.

Sirius regarded her calmly.

"_Does anyone even know you?" _

Her fist flew out and slammed into his nose and she barely even heard the echoing sound of cracking. Sirius, sloshed as he was, stumbled.

"Shut up!" she shouted, her voice raspy and harsh in the quiet room.

"Just shut up, you old, worthless, drunken waste of fucking space! Shut up!" she cried.

She spun on her heels, tripping herself, and bolted from the room, slamming into someone's shoulder. She didn't even care enough to wonder how long Remus had been standing in that doorway.

* * *

The air still held a chilliness to it, and that afternoon one could still see their breath in the air. It also held a certain stillness to it that day, but perhaps that was just him projecting his emotions into nature. It could've been the sunniest, warmest day with puffy white clouds and the bluest sky he'd ever seen, but he still would've choked on the chilliness that haunted the air at the house. He felt like followed that bone-chill all the way there, like scent. He certainly didn't want to deal with the brooding mass stowed away in the attic with the liquor. Perhaps he'd stand a chance with the littler thundercloud.

But one look at the huddled form and he knew he stood corrected. Littler in physical size perhaps, but just as large and lethal inside. He couldn't understand it. How someone could have such volatile emotions. It was like he constantly had to be waiting for the combustion. Like there was just too much toxic chemicals mixed into one beaker of a person. And this beaker happened to be so tiny it was hard to believe there was just as much of a highly fatal concoction of emotions in her as there was in the larger, frayed and worn beaker in the dark attic. He didn't stand a chance with either of them if he wasn't careful. Perhaps it was all genetics. Too many emotionally unstable people in the gene pool. Blacks were complicated, highly dangerous creatures.

"Go away." she said quietly.

Remus witheld a sigh, knowing it would irritate her, and just silently sat down beside her.

"You're getting hard of hearing."

A smile almost graced his lips.

"He didn't mean it."

Aero was silent, which he expected of her, but a certain tone graced the air that made him feel like she was saying _'I'm not that naive'_.

"Alright, maybe he did. Sirius is a blunt person, we both know that. And he was intoxicated."

_He's always intoxicated, Remus _she seemed to say.

"He just...can't take things as well as he used to. He used to be able to go with the flow of things without a problem. He'd find a way to get what he wanted eventually. Not to say he wasn't impatient and rash but still...it came out harsh. He hasn't been well lately. Very ill tempered. Unbalanced. Cranky. Depressed and agitated. His nightmares are worse. He's restless."

_I know. _

"And...I think you scared him. He's always tried to be the...relaxed, laid-back older cousin you could turn to. The one who understood you and you understood him. It's a connection you two have always had. James said he reckoned you both were cut from the same cloth. And I believe he was correct. Perhaps that's the problem. He sees so much of himself in you, he fears you'll make the same mistakes. That what has happened to him will happen to you, and I believe that truly frightens him. But...I think you truly frightened him even more when we originally thought the two dead were you and Bill. The thought of losing you, especially like that and two your parents, so young...that scared him. You didn't see the utter look of gut-wrenching horrror on his face. And much like you, Sirius didn't want it to show around you. He was more scared than he let on. And then you took on Selena and it was like Lily and james all over again and the fear that you would become him grew even more. Became more realistic."

Remus sighed. He knew he was pleading Sirius' case, and he probably didn't deserve it, but both the Blacks were drowning. He could see even though Aero's eyes would be furious, and Sirius' were hazy with alcohol, they were both laced in pain. They could never really hide it. Not completely. Or maybe he was just so attuned to it he picked it up when others didn't. But the point was, they were both hurting in irrepairable ways. The only people who could truly help were each other. Because no one else would understand.

"I'm not expecting you to just open your arms and hold him. I know you -" he winced, realizing how much he sounded like the previous conversation, "- and you'll make him suffer and he'll do the same. But...what he said was true, wasn't it? That's why it upset you so much?"

Remus wished she would just talk to him. He wished she'd open up to anyone really. Aero and Sirius were alike, alarmingly so, in the way that they'd only reveal so many layers of themselves. Now, Sirius and Aero had a way of digging under the other's left over layers easily and probably without realizing it. It's why they were so attuned to each other. How Sirius knew how Aero felt and why it bothered Aero so much coming from him. Because it scared them both to know it was true. Not only because of Aero, but Sirius indirectly said he felt the same.

"You need each other, bottom line. Harsh truths were admitted, regrettably so early in the morning, but still. You both need help, to help each other, before you're both beyond the point of no return."

Remus, sensing Aero wouldn't reply, leaned over and gave her forehead a kiss before walking swiftly away, only to watch her from the gate. Aero shifted slightly after twenty minutes. She wrapped her arms around her knees and lifted a hand so her fingertips brushed against the engraved words on the stone.

_Desarie Hale Lathum and Shane Lathum, dearly departed and dearly missed. _

_Wife and Husband, _

_Warriros, _

_Parents, _

_friends and siblings. _

_1996 _

And right beside it stood another cold, marble headstone.

_Simon Winthrop, gone too soon _

_Warrior, _

_Son, _

_Friend, _

_LEGEND _

_1992 _


	43. Chapter 43 Dangerous Minds

I'm searching for answers, cause somethings not right

I'll follow the signs, I'm close to the fire

I fear you'll soon reveal, your dangerous mind

It's in your eyes, what's on your mind

I fear your smile and the promise inside

I fear your presensce, I'm frozen inside

The curse of awareness, there's no peace of mind, as your true colors show

A dangerous sign

- **A Dangerous Mind** - Within Temptation

* * *

The house was still. It was quiet. It was something that anyone coming to know the residents would fear. The Blacks, by nature, were usually never quite and still unless something was coming, like a brewing Hurricane. Most people have little raging storms inside that they can release when pushed. Maybe a thunderstorm with some slight lightening. A rain storm. A storm any person can gerneally handle and tame. But Tonks and Remus, having either come from the Blacks or dealing with them, knew this particular family, these people in question, didn't have it in them to only brew a rain storm. There were two full blown Hurricanes heading for collision.

"So after one fight, everything goes to hell." Bill murmured.

"That wasn't one fight, was it Remus?" Tonks asked.

Remus sat in a still slightly dust, no doubt expensive chair across from them. Tonks noticed that the few wrinkles he had had become more pronounced suddenly, little divets in between his brows, his forehead wrinkled in stress and worry. His eyes, normally bright with thought or laced in amusement were clouded over as he thought silently. One hand covered his mouth, hiding his frown.

"It was. Just one. It wasn't like the squabbles they usually have. This was...this was too emotionally intense. This was too emotionaly accurate for either one of them to reasonably handle." he said quietly.

"They just need to talk it out. Honestly, I've raised seven children, all who can raise hell like no other, and I've known Aero for years. Why can't we just put them in a room and let them handle it?" Molly asked.

Remus wasn't the only one to raise his brows at the suggestion.

"We can do that, if you want to see which one comes out alive." Tonks replied dryly.

"I think we're missunderstanding something here, dear. See, most of the rumors about the Blacks...they're true. My mother comes straight from them. Raised by them. She can create hell like them too. It's become increasingly diluted throughout her line, since she's kept my brothers and I away from them, as we've done for our children but Aero and Sirius..." Arthur said, looking uneasy.

"You're all just making such a big deal out of a family spat. They can't be _that_ bad." Molly insisted.

"Oh we can." Tonks muttered.

"And Arthur's right." Remus agreed, still sitting in the same position.

"How?" Molly asked, frowning.

"It can be possibly linked to genetics, which could possibly still be present in your own children. They have several qualities I've observed in both Sirius and Aero, even in Narcissa and Regulus, when I've come across them and from what their cousins have told me." Remus began.

"Sirius and Aero come from the Blacks, straight down, and were raised by them. It seems to me, that every generation has become more unstable than the one before. But that's beside the point. The Blacks were never taught true restraint of their anger. When they got angry, they were raised to deal with it, generally by blackmailing, sabotage, murder, torture etc. They are, naturally, a very dark, twisted family. And what not many people seem to understand is that both Sirius and Aero were raised in that environment. Just because the faces they show you are rebellious, refusing to be anything like their relatives, it doesn't mean they don't have the same instincts or brooding, catastrophic behaviors."

"I don't think I'm understanding." Bill said.

Remus sighed. He sounded frustrated.

"And there enlies the problem. The things that will soon occur, you will have none to the briefest of understanding to their actions. It's a complicated concoction of genetics and raising. Nature vs. Nuture, if you will. Just...Aero and Sirius are very highly damaged people. They don't really ever actually tell you what's going on inside their minds, as Sirius so recently pointed out to Aero. They're emotionally unstable. Emotions are just not what they do best in. They've been raised to shove their unwanted emotions down into a mental chest and lock it up forever. So when the chest opens, or when they're thrown so many emotions...the reaction is much the same as awakening a demon or freeing someone from an Asylum or even cornering a large, dangerous man-eating animal."

Everyone was silent as they tried to process his explanation.

"Well...what will they try to do, exactly?" Charlie wondered.

"I don't believe even they know..."

"Well certainly they can try to contain themselves, can't they?" Kingsley rumbled.

Remus gave a dry, humorless laugh.

"Containing them, for us, would be like trying to contain two nucleur explosions going off at one time. For them, if they don't take it out on another target, or targets, they'll turn on themselves. A little like during a transformation...if there's no one else to attack, the monster will go after itself. Self-destruction of the highest degree." Remus admitted reluctantly.

"What kind of destruction are we talking about here?" Mad-eye growled.

"Depends. They might take several approaches. I don't know. It's hard to say, or guess. I've only dealt with the destruction of Sirius, and that was a small explosion, like a grenade. This will be nucleur. Only this time, his own pre-detonation stage set off Aero's."

"So...what happens now?" Tonks asked.

"We wait for them to do something and burn themselves out. And try to stay out of their way."

* * *

All was quiet when the front door opened. It was late, everyone fast asleep. Heels clicked hollowly on the floor as they slowly neared the bedroom door. A pale hand struck out through the slim shine of the moon and grasped the door knob, turning it slowly. The door swung open with the barest of groans and the heels stepped forward into the room, nearing the closest bed. For a moment she watched the rise and fall of his chest, then reached a hand down and placed it over his heart, feeling the steady beat against her palm. His skin felt so hot and alive next to her own icy touch.

His shifted slightly under her pressure and briefly opened his eyes, shining blue peeking into the night, before he closed them again. The twin in the corner gave a muffled snore, head shoved into the pillow. Her hand traced a pattern around his chest, one finger out so her nail traced the smooth line of his neck. He breathed a sigh.

Her nail traced over his lips and they seemed to part under her touch as he slept away, unaware. Her hands then pushed the blanket away and tossed it to the floor. They lifted to unbotton her shirt, lifted her bra off, stripped herself of her jeans and underwear and kicked off her shoes, standing bare beside his bed. She placed her hands flat on his thin cotton shirt and her nails dug into the fabric, and using the arm muscles gained from years of playing Beater, she tore through it, ripping the shirt right off him.

George gave a startled snort but the rolled to face the wall and continued his sleep. Fred frowned at the sudden child but just turned his head to the side. His nails lightly scraped his skin and goosebumps rose down his chest until her hands stopped at his pants. She didn't hesitate when curling her fingers inside and quickly pulling them down to his ankles. She smirked almost devilishly when she found he was already slightly aroused by a dream of some sort. Her hands trailed up his thigh and then swiftly gripped his shaft, pumping steadily until she was satisfied. Fred had an awed look on his face as he slept, head slightly tilted back, mouth parted.

She then got onto the bed, straddled him, and teased herself a bit with his tip. She stared at his face, her eyes clouded over with something unreadable, and dropped herself just as his eyes shot open. She encased him and tightened herself and his head fell back, arching off the bed, controlled completely by the feeling, despite the fact he woke up the this.

Her hands gripped his shoulders and her nails dug into the skin and she scratched them down his torso, earning a groan. His hands instinctively gripped her hips and she jumped up a bit, then dropped back completely onto him and his hips shot up to meet her. She did it several times, staying silent through out, and Fred writhed beneath her, giving rasping gasps and strangled noises. She leaned down when she felt him twitching and kissed his pulse point on his throat before biting him, hard, as they both finished.

Her teeth still sunk into his flesh, feeling the warmth trickle down over his collar bone as he tried to catch his breath. After a moment she lifted her head, her lips tinged in crimson, and she stuck her tongue out to collect the liqued on her mouth as she stared at him. Fred's eyes were slightly hazy and his chest rose and fell quickly.

"Sweet dreams to you too." he murmured, slightly surprised and still hazy.

She leaned down, gripping his jaw between her thumb and forefinger and kissed him, spreading his own blood to his mouth. She straightened up then and slid off the bed, running a hand through her hair before quietly getting her clothes and dressing.

Fred watched her and then ran his hand over the bleeding bite.

"Ouch..."

He glanced back at his girlfriend, who had yet to say a single word.

"Are you alright, Aer?" he asked.

She shook her head as she stepped back into her shoes.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Fred asked, sitting up on his elbows, now completely awake and worried.

She shook her head again. She hurried over, pecked his cheek once, ran her fingers through his hair and disapeared through the bedroom door. A moment later he heard the front door close quietly. He lept from the bed and stood at the window, watching her disapear between the flickering streetlamps before turning a corner and he knew she had disapparated.

George chose that moment to lift his head, eyes half closed.

"Whatta you doin'?" he asked sleepily.

"Nothing." Fred said quietly.

George seemed to process what he was seeing for a moment.

"I hope you don't do _'nothing'_ often, Freddie. Give the poor old birds next door a heart attack."

Fred frowned, barely registering his brother, and then glanced down and blinked. Indeed, he was standing at the open window...naked.

"Oh..."

"Poor old Mrs. Tompski." George agreed.

* * *

The door to Grimmauld Place slammed open and hurried footsteps carried through the floors and down to the kitchen.

They charged through the door and Mrs. Weasley whirled, hand flying to her heart.

"What do you think you're doing, causing such a-" she began but stopped short, eyes widening.

"Fred? George? What's wrong?" Remus asked immediately, standing from his place at the table.

"We want to know where -" Fred began but his mother cut him off.

"What on earth do you think you're doing here?" she cried.

"Mum, now's _really_ not the time -" George tried.

"_Not the time?_ You're supposed to be in school!"

"We know, and we'll explain after -"

"No, I think you'll explain _now_."

"But mum -"

"Well? What is it? What's this no doubt dramatic, _noble_ explanation?" She demanded, hands on her hips and foot tapping.

The twins glanced uneasily at each other.

"Well you see..."

"Umbridge was being a real tyrant -"

"And was torturing our fellow students -"

"Including our dear little Harry and my currently missing girlfriend -"

"_Missing_?" Tonks asked, sputtering her water.

"And we couldn't let her get away with that -"

"And Dumbledore was gone and she became Headmistress -"

"And Harry needed our help so we figured what a better time -"

"And created a distraction- but don't blame him we were going to do it anyways -"

"And we wanted to get a start on our joke shop -"

_"Joke shop?"_ Mrs. Weasley started.

"And we've got premises and papers and documents and products fully tested and everything -"

"And now we're here, because we want to find out -"

"Are. You. MENTAL?" their mother shouted.

The twins cringed, along with everyone else in the room. Mrs. Weasley was red in the face, eyes wide and mouth spread thin.

"You left school, caused a big fuss for your new Headmistress, who happens to work for the Ministry who could make life difficult indeed for your father and this family, no doubt putting us even _more_ on the radar for them which will most definately cause future problems, so that you can set up your _joke shop_ which I strictly forbade you from starting in the first place? _What is wrong with you?_"

They hesitated.

"Uhm, well yes -"

"We can see how that would be rather upsetting to you -"

"Oh really? Arthur, where did we go wrong? They just don't listen! We didn't have these kind of problems with Charlie, or Bill or Percy -" she wailed.

"Molly dear -" Arthur said uneasily.

"_Percy?_ You'd rather us be ungrateful, traitorous, disrespectful, stuck up _prats_ than actually going after what we know we can do?" Fred shouted.

"Why do you always have to compare us to them? Perfect Charlie, Responsible Bill, and PERCY? He doesn't even want to be in this family anymore! Yet we still can't hold a candle to precious Percy!" George added bitterly.

"Boys -" Arthur tried.

"Why is running a joke shop so bad, Mum? What's really so bad about it? Huh? Is it the fact that it's fun? Is it the fact that it's not pushing papers and kissing the Minister's butt for years just to make a galleon? Is it that we're doing something other than what you and dad planned? That we stray from the great-path you came up with at birth for us? Because if you haven't noticed Mum, we were never going to wear suits and press papers and sit at a desk all day. We were never going to turn out like dad, or Percy." Fred snapped.

"You've had this idea in your head all our lives, that we'd go and work at the Ministry. Have you not been paying attention the last few years? I mean, you want us working at the place filled with naive idiots who will let Voldemort sneak right under their noses while they cower under their desks?"

"Incase you didn't already get the hint, we don't cower well. We don't want to stick our heads up our asses like Percy and his precious Minister while the world is getting ready to propel itself down into hell. We can't sit by and do that."

"And just to inform you, no one besides Percy has ever followed the map you laid out. I guess he strayed though too, didn't he? Left the family he did, can't imagine that was on the great-planning board, eh? Besides, why's it so bad that we're doing out own thing? Bill did. He went away, travels all over, he's a curse breaker. It's dangerous. We're not in danger in a joke shop."

"And Charlie, he deals with giant, fire-breathing reptiles all day. Look at all the injuries he's got, hm? That's dangerous and was definately not the plan, I'm guessing. And do you really see Ron working at a desk for some stuck-up prat? Or Ginny? She's be fired in the first week after throwing her desk at some closet-perv who sits next door to her cubicle."

"So don't try and tell us you went wrong. Do you even hear youself when you talk, Mum?" George pleaded.

Mrs. Weasley stood in front of them, lip trembling, eyes watery. She stayed there for a moment before trying to stiffen her lip and shoved past them up the stairs. Fred slumped against the wall and George closed his eyes and sighed.

After a moment of silence Remus spoke.

"What do you mean Aero is missing?"

* * *

The picture trembled in his hand and fell to the floor, having slipped from his bony fingers. It fell and rested amongst the others in the shadows, their faces peering at him from the darkness. The bottle shook in his other hand, the amber liqued sloshing against the glass as he lifted it to his lips again.

"Why do I always fuck everything up?" he whispered hoarsely.

He did. Always. Everytime he fucked it up somehow. It was like that Midis or whatever bloke, where everything he touched turned to gold, even people, except with Sirius everything he touched broke.

James and the Marauders waved at him from a picture. Sometime during sixth year. Fucked that up. Even the Marauders weren't untouchable. Fucked up with Moony, telling Snape to go to that shack during the moon. Remus never did truly forgive him for letting him almost committ murder. And Peter, he should've been nicer, should've noticed when he started changing, but he didn't. He let them lose Peter to the darkness. And James. Oh James, his brother, his best mate. How many times did he fuck that up? He trusted his friend's family to the wrong person, he got them killed, led James' son, his pride, to a life of danger and people trying to do nothing but kill him. He had killed his best friend. Fucked that up.

Let his brother get swept under the tidal wave of their family's bigoted ways. Let him become a Death Eater, sign his own death warrant. Never treated him right. Couldn't save him. Lost him. Fucked that up. The one girl who ever stuck around long enough, who ever even cared to look beyond his smirking face. He let her go. She fought and he didn't. Fucked that up.

Aero. The one he was supposed to guide away from their family, so that one person, just one person, could finally get away and be normal, untainted, undamaged. Failed that. He couldn't be there for her when she needed him. He had thought she had turned out all right. And then he got to know her. He saw the cracks, the looks in her eyes when she thought no one was watching. Watching her, it was like watching himself. And now he fucked that up too. But he wouldn't let her become him. No. She would not follow in his footsteps, like James had always joked she would.

He glanced wearily at the photgraph he had dropped.

A beautiful young blonde girl looked up at him, her eyes were sparkling and she was laughing and his arm was around her shoulder, a lazy smile on his face. And while she stared at the camera, no doubt being taken by James, Sirius had his head turned down to stare at her, completely awed. He wished he could still be that kid. He wished he could tell himself back then not to let her go.

A rap at the door sounded.

"Sirius, I know you're in there. You've been in there for days. Come out." Tonks pleaded.

Sirius ignored her.

"Sirius..."

He took another gulp of the amber drink.

"I'll get my mother over here. She'll tell you what-for." his baby cousin threatened.

"Pads, please." Remus this time, said.

Sirius' eyes flashed and his armed jerked and the bottle hit the door with an ear-splitting shatter.

"Padfoot!"

"Get away from me!" he shouted.

His vision flashed and he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He turned sharply, ready to fend off any well-intentioned house guest. A squeak sounded, no doubt a rat, but Sirius reacted violently and brought his wand down, sending the rat into a box before it scuttled away. The box had skidded across the floor into the closed old bureau. It rattled and the locked snapped open, the door swinging after.

Sirius grunted, his lip curled in anger. Remus still pounded on the door. Tonks was crying his name. His locking spell was sticking.

And then a dark shape emereged from the bureau and stepped out from the shadows. Sirius stumbled a bit, his vision blurry, and turned to face the bureau properly. And his eyes widened and his heart seemed to stop. Moonlight bounced off her straight blonde hair, golden as the sun, and her turquoise eyes shined in the light, staring straight at him. Her skin was smooth and looked as soft as he remembered. She was young, so young, maybe Aero's age now. And she wore her school uniform, the red tie standing out against her white button shirt. She took a step towards him.

Sirius felt his mouth form a hopeful smile and his shaky hand reached out for her, and she seemed to tilt her head at the movement, her eyes, the eyes like noneother he'd seen before, stared right at him, unwavering. And then imense fear crept into them, and Sirius grew concerned, stepping towards her, and her face contorted in pain and horror and her mouth dropped open.

And the sound he thought he'd never have to endure again came out as her earth-shaking, painstaking, pain-filled scream pierced teh air around him and Sirius felt himself stop breathing just as the door burst open.


	44. Chapter 44 Lost and Found

**Happy Belated Birthday to Javalon14! (Really belated now. I planned this to come out earlier o_0 ) **

* * *

_I've been around these vicious lies too long to be neglecting the truth _

_I'm getting closer and I'm fully armed _

_I'm about to hunt you down..._

**MURDER** - Within Temptation

* * *

The world was damp, fresh from the rain. The sky was a dark, melancholy grey and darkening as night fell. A dark olive skinned young woman twirled a lock of even darker hair around her finger, chatting with the middle-aged barman while she drank. Another sat beside her, golden skin, blonde hair and big, innocent looking blue eyes. She ran a hand almost self-conciously over her tight black dress, legs crossed and bouncing her heeled foot.

The blonde took a tiny sip of her drink, eyes subtly darting around the room before making eye contact with two older men, probably in their late forties. They met her curious gaze with their own drunkenly hazy ones and smirked to each other, as if she didn't know what they planned. The brunet glanced briefly her friend's way before pursing her lips to hide a smile.

"Well well well. Scotty, looky what we have here." one of the men said, elbowing his friend.

"I see her, mate. Pretty little thing, isn't she?" 'Scotty' leaned forward, reaking of Firewhiskey, and grinned at the blonde.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked.

The blonde seemed to blush, ducking her head before peeking back up with a coy smile.

"Aria Blackwell." she said quietly.

The men grinned at each other.

"I'm Quinton Selwyn, love. This here is my brother, Scotty Selwyn." the first said proudly.

The blonde looked up, smiling.

"Selwyn? I've heard of your family. Noble family, right? One of the few pure bloods left."

"Right you are, lovely. You _pure_?" Scotty asked, though no doubt he wasn't just asking about her family tree.

She bit her lip.

"My _bloods_ cleaner than you'll ever know."

"Perfect."

"You know...I think I met a relative of yours. What was her name? Ministry woman...what was it, Xena?" she asked, turning to her friend. " Delores Umbridge?"

The brunette nodded, smiling.

"Ah, our cousin. Sweet little Delores." Quinton agreed.

"You're close?" the blonde inquired.

"Our favorite cousin, yes ma'am." Scotty replied.

"That's _sooo_ nice." Aria gushed.

They grinned.

"You wanna come hang around with us tonight, missy?" Scotty asked.

She cast a cautious glance at her friend.

"Long as you take good care of her." the brunette, Xena, said.

"Oh. We'll take _very_ good care of her." Quinton promised.

Aria smiled sweetly and grabbed one arm from each brother as they herded her out the door. They walked through an alley way and as soon as the door was closed Aria was against the brick wall, legs up around Quinton's waist, leaving none of him to the imagination as he grinded against her. Scotty was trailing a cold hand up her bare leg, inching closer. Quinton's mouth was on her's and his hands moved down to unzip his pants.

Aria's hand shot out and grabbed Quinton through his jeans, making the man groan against her lips and her hand traveled up to his torso, inside his warm jacket. Her other hand whipped out to pay attention to the other brother, pulling him closer by his belt loops splayed her hand inside his jacket as well, making him grin and inch his hand towards her chest.

And then both brothers were shot to the ground, stunned looks on their faces and crashing with grunted oaths. Aria stood against the wall, malicious smirk on her face and her eyes twinkled, both the brother's wands in her hands. She raised Quinton's wand, pointing it at Scotty. His eyes widened.

"I have a message for your cousin." she said simply before she murmured the curse and his body sank to the ground with a dull thump.

She turned then to Quinton, Scotty's wand in hand.

"Please..." he begged.

She cocked her head to the side, looking amused.

"I want her to know...I'm coming."

She stepped over Quinton's lifeless body, sliding a hand down to smooth her dress and ran a hand through her tossled blonde hair just as the alley door opened and her brunette friend stepped out, drink in hand.

She appraised the brothers before nodding and walking down the alley beside the blonde.

"Where to now?"

* * *

He ran his hand over the shirt in his pocket, feeling the soft fabric brush his fingertips. He could smell the perfume on it when he would bring it to his face. But now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time to listen. To listen and learn and absorb the information given to him by his elders.

The group was dressed in dark as usual, anxious looks in their eyes. They wanted to move forward, to cause their chaos and get their revenge. But the Master ordered them to wait. Now wasn't the time. Everything must be calculated, he insisted. He would bide his time, play Dumbledore's game, despite the fact he could easily take him down now. 'Consider it his dying wish.' he'd say, 'I am a merciful Lord, after all.'

So they waited with bated breath. They lurked in the shadows, they schemed, they watched. And the more he watched, the more he desired. He desired her. To take her away, steal her, from that traitor-scum she associated herself with. Rodolphus told him privately that she was just never taught better. It was weak Narcissa's fault, no matter how much Bellatrix insisted it was Lucius' fault for neglecting to discipline their daughter.

She didn't know better than to hang around with Weasleys. Or Potter. Or the Mudblood. But the Master said her loyalty, even if to the wrong side, was admirable. She had a touch of loyalty like her mother, that was all. Her loyalty to Sirius, to the Werewolf and the halfbloods and the traitors was strong, but he was sure they could...convince her to waver.

No he just had to wait. Wait for the right moment.

_Good things come to those who wait. _

* * *

The front door swung open and the twins visibly jumped. She wasn't sure if they were anticipating some sort of attack or if she just startled them. She brushed it off and closed the door, walking into the loft.

"Aero! Where have you been?" Fred exclaimed, rushing and pulling her towards him.

She linked her arms up around his neck.

"I was busy." she said simply.

"Busy? With what? The Order didn't give you any missions." George said.

She shrugged.

"It wasn't Order work."

The twins exchanged glances.

"Then what was it? What were you doing?" Fred asked.

"Nothing."

"Aero..."

"What?"

"You've been gone for four days, love. People were worried."

"What? Just because I take off for a few days, I'm being murdered or something? I used to leave without telling anyone." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah...before your parents escaped from Azkaban." George reminded her.

"I'm well aware of the situation, thank you, George."

"Look, we're just saying -"

"I know what you're saying. But I'm a big girl who gets to make her own decisions, like when I want to take a break from life, and shouldn't be treated like a little kid who ran away from Mum at the market." she snapped.

Fred flinched. He had seen plenty of pissed off looks from her, irritated and many other emotions on her, but that look that crossed her eyes just then. It wasn't irritated, annoyed or angry. It looked like she was completely mental, that little flash. But he shook it off.

"Sorry. You just...I worry for you. I don't want you getting hurt...if they found you..." Fred murmured softly.

Aero's face relaxed and she walked up and kissed him, snuggling her face against his chest.

"I know. I'm a bitch. I'm sorry I made you worry. I'll let you know next time I leave..." she promised.

Fred smiled and nodded, kissing her forehead.

"Well, I don't suppose you stopped by erm...Remus' place?" George asked, uncomfortably.

Fred noticed he called it Remus' place, not Sirius'.

"Not yet. I'm going to see Selena so I'll have to. I'm guessing you informed him when I wasn't around?"

George nodded sheepishly.

"It's alright. He would've wondered eventually. Probably thought I was just avoiding the house is all. Well, that means your mother must know you're back."

The twins nodded, looking uncomfortably at the ground.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We may have..."

"Sort have uhm..."

"Gone off a bit -"

"Of a tirade with her in front of everyone -"

"And she may have stormed out to cry a bit -"

"But she had been yelling at us -"

"Like we're some sort of big failure in her life -"

"And we kinda got going and just didn't -"

"Know how to stop."

Aero pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Does this mean you're going to continue hiding out here?" she asked.

They nodded.

"Wait...does this mean _I_ should hide out too?" she said after a moment.

The twins glanced at each other.

"Well...we may have accidentally implied you knew we have dropped out of school when the first thing we mentioned was not seeing you for three days..." Fred informed her.

Aero groaned, closing her eyes.

"Lovely. She'll hate me."

"Well it's not your fault." Fred insisted.

"Say we coarsed you into it. Can't make us look any worse to her." George suggested.

"Is she really, _really_ angry?" Aero asked wearily.

They nodded solemnly.

"Damn. Well, I have to go there. So...maybe she won't be there?" she said before reluctantly heading out the door.

Fred watched the door close wearily.

"This should end well." George said in a false bright voice.

* * *

The house was oddly quiet. It was badly lit, as usual, but it gave her the impression the house itself was upset. She walked quietly to the parlor room and saw Remus, staring into the dwindling fire which cast an orange glow across his face. He seemed oddly younger just then, his eyes looked so lost and young, like a child that just didn't know what to do.

She stepped cautiously into the room and slid into the seat beside him, staring at the fire as well.

"Where have you been?" he asked after a moment, his voice so soft she barely heard him.

She was silent for a moment longer.

"I was away."

She could feel he wanted more though he said nothing.

"I had to go away. But I'm back."

Remus' jaw twitched, barely noticeable.

"For how long?"

She shrugged, watching an ember fall onto the carpet and fade.

"For as long as I can be."

They sat their for a moment.

"Something's wrong with Sirius." Remus murmured.

Aero's heart stuttered, but outside she remained still.

"I know you're angry at him, but you're really all the family he has left." Remus said, as if reminding her.

"It's not his fault." she stated.

Remus blinked then, breaking his gaze withthe fire and turning his head slightly to see her better.

"What?"

"It's not his fault. Never was. I know that." she said simply.

"What's not his fault?"

Aero glanced at him, calm and cool.

"Everything."

* * *

Sirius lie in bed, the comforter spread precariously over his vulnerable form. His eyes were open but saw nothing, staring blankly at the dark wall, hidden in the shadows.

_"Sirius, please!" _

_"Get out! Get OUT!" _

_"Listen to me one god damned second!" _

_CRASH _

His head spun. He could barely remember his own name as he got swept up in whatever sick show was taking over his mind.

_"I think Pete should be the secret keeper." _

_"Peter? He's not as strong in duelling as you are, Pads." _

_"But I'm the obvious choice, aren't I?" _

_"Well yes..." _

_"Let Pete be the Secret Keeper, secretly. Double security. I trust him, Prongs..." _

His heart ached and his gut wrenched. But he couldn't move. He was perpetually frozen in this reel of scenes.

_"Where is she?" _

_"Don't ask me that." _

_"I am asking you where she is, Masen!" _

_"You don't get the right to ask that anymore!" _

Sirius didn't even register the bed moving on his side. A thin arm curled up on his chest and a weight fell onto it gently. Something breathed in rythm with him.

_"You can raise her away from this when this is over, mate." _

_"When? When we kill her parents?" _

_"See, she'll have something to thank-you for before she's even four." _

_"I can't raise a kid. I can barely raise myself, Prongs." _

_"Isn't that the truth..." _

_"Shut-up, Monny." _

_"She'd better off with you, even I have to agree. Things will all work out, Pads." _

A hand curled against his shirt and warmth penetrated his cold body.

_"Your brother didn't make it out of the war, Sirius." _

_"What do you mean he didn't make it out?" _

_"Voldemort killed him himself, I heard." _

_"What could he have possibly -" _

_"It won't do to dwell on it, Black. He's gone." _

Something brushed hair off his face.

_"You are no son of mine!" _

_"Mother -" _

_"Be silent, Regulus! I will cast you out with this defective!" _

_"Do it you old bat!" _

_"Sirius I beg you -" _

_"I can't take it anymore, Reg! I can't!" _

_"Then leave! Leave you miserable little waste of space! Leave and never come back!" _

_"I don't plan to come back!" _

_"Please don't do this!" _

_"Be silent!" _

Sirius felt ill. Something warm touched his cheek.

"This seems familiar. Only I believe last time, I was the catatonic party."

His mind raced to identify the voice by his ear.

"What am I going to do with you, Sirius?"

The voice sighed.

"Nothing is your fault, Sirius. I need you to know that. I don't blame you for anything."

His head was pounding.

"You were right, about what you said to me. I don't think I fully understood the weird little connection between us before. But I do now. And you're hurting. I was too casual about it before. You're hurting and I did nothing."

The hand brushed through his hair again.

"But I'll take care of you now. I'll make up for it. This house holds too many memories. You need to get out. People have wronged you, broken you. People have broken both of us. We need to watch out for each other."

The head laid back down on his shoulder.

"And I will. We've been broken, Sirius. Wronged. We're damned. But...I have a plan." she whispered.

And then Sirius' mind caught up, just barely processing the speaker.

_Aero_.

* * *

"I have an odd family." Tonks muttered, taking a sip of firewhiskey.

Charlie nodded.

"That you do."

She rolled her eyes.

"So. How's fatherhood?" she asked.

Charlie sighed and reclined farther back in his seat. They sat in the kitchen, the parlor being occupied by a thoughtful Remus and they had no desire to go up the stairs, where Sirius was recooperating from a strange Bogart attack.

"It's...not what I expected." he said finally.

Tonks snorted.

"And what, pray tell, did you think it would be like, taking in a toddling ward?" she asked humoressly.

Charlie shrugged, a faint tinting to his cheeks.

"I don't know...I never expected it in the first place so I never really thought about it. It's...hard."

"Mmm. Imagine when she turns into an emotional teenager."

Charlie groaned.

"Dating."

"_Never_."

Tonks laughed, shaking her head.

"Ah, the perks of having a girl."

Charlie raised a brow.

"There are perks?"

Tonks grinned.

"I think you and Aero do just fine with her. You're the wicked parental figures, you know? That every kid wishes they had, instead of the older, traditional parents? "

Charlie shrugged.

"I think we do alright. It's definately hard though, and if we didn't have anyone else around we'd be insane by now."

"Takes a village, I here."

"Aye. I mean, she's got so much energy, she's traumatized by losing her parents. I've got Romania and Aero's got a relationship and she's full time working for the Order. We already had so much going on and then..."

Tonks nodded.

"I can't imagine what I would've done, had I accepted their idea of being godmother. I mean, I can barely look after myself, let alone a kid. But Aero and you, you've got your lives together, on track. You're stable."

Charlie snorted this time.

"I think you're the only person to refer to us as _stable_."

"Well, considering the circumstances, Aero being so young and you barely knowing the kid, you're stable."

Charlie hummed in agreement.

"Maybe that's the problem. She's so young. I couldn't have been as reasonable being her age and having this dropped on me. Dropping out of school, leaving a spot at the Ministry, my friends dying when it was supposed to be me and knowing I had to take care of their grieving three year old all in one night?" Charlie shook his head, taking another drink.

"It's a lot to handle. For all three of you."

"And me. I barely know my own goddaughter and now I'm responsible for seeing her to be a good person when she grows up? To be responsible for raising her? I don't really even know Aero that well and we're raising a kid together. Ang she's dating my little brother, if that doesn't make it any stranger. I'm barely ever in England and now I've got a kid here when half the time I'm all the way in Romania. How is that even supposed to work?"

Tonks shrugged. She took a drink.

"See, I think because Aero is so young, she can allow herself to vent more easily, I guess. Like she went out with mates and had some drinks. Just for a night, let go, you know? Remind herself that she wasn't suddenly _just_ a guardian. She was still Aero, a teenager. I think you should too."

Charlie looked incredulously at her.

"One I'm not a teenager and two, Aero's out somewhere, Merlin knows where, and I have Selena."

"Yeah...I wonder where she is. It's not like her to just take off like that."

"So you don't think she's missing? You think she left?"

"I think we'd know if someone got Aero. She wouldn't go down without a fight. I think she left. Which means it was a sudden thing, she had a reason, something important."

"Like what?"

Tonks frowned.

"I have no idea. But don't think you distracted me, Weasel. There are other people in the house, and we can stay right here."

"Oh really?"

Tonks smirked and stood.

"Be back in a minute."

Charlie watched her leave the kitchen and sighed, shaking his head.

This definately was not how he planned his life to go...

* * *

"Remus?"

He turned his head slightly, just enough to glance out the side of his eye at the doorway where she stood hesitantly.

It always struck him odd when she hesitated. Nymphadora Tonks wasn't the sort of person to hesitate doing anything. It was one of the many things that they differed in. But she hesitated now, in the doorway. She had been hesitating a lot around him lately. Ever since that kiss they had when Aero was in St. Mungo's. He hadn't been expecting that. Tonks had been upset about Aero getting into a fight and falling down the stairs, and Remus had comforted her there in the waiting room and then before he knew it...and then she left and had hesitated ever since.

"Why are you sitting all by yourself?" she asked quietly.

He gave a one shouldered shrug.

He felt her hesitate a moment, shifting her feet, and then she stepped quickly into the room, stumbling over herself once but then sat down on one of the couches beside him at the fire. He watched the fading embers cast a glow over her face, so young.

"You're trying to save them." she said simply.

Remus said nothing.

"Remus...you can't save everyone. There are some people who can't be saved, especially from themselves. And I believe...that my cousins are those people that have the ability to destroy themselves at any given moment and will refuse to them anyone, not matter who or how well intentioned, save them."

Remus frowned at the fading embers.

"So I'm supposed to just watch the last of my friends drift away? Let a young, damaged girl destroy herself?" he asked roughly.

Tonks shook her head, magenta spikes shaking.

"No, I know you wouldn't. And I thank you for that. There aren't many people who would want to save them, let alone try. But you can't carry the weight of them on your shoulders Remus. It will crush you."

"It's crushing them."

"I know." she spoke softly. "But you can't lift their burdens for them. Life has not been good to them, Remus. And eventually, at some point, it has to wear them down and you can't stop that. I love them, I'd do anything for them. But some people just...you can't save them."

A silence took the room and they both sat there, thoughtful.

"I can't..." he started hoarsely.

Tonks glanced at him.

"Can't what, Remus?" she wondered softly.

Remus swallowed thickly.

"I can't loose him too..." his whispered reluctantly.

A pained expression crossed his face and Tonks wanted nothing more than to reach out to him. But she didn't. Couldn't.

"He's the only one left...he's the only person I have left." he continued, a tremor in his voice.

"Remus..."

"I feel so useless, sitting down here while he's fading away. I thought I could fix him...I thought..." he cut off with a pained, choked sound.

Tonks tilted her head, expression soft.

"Thought what?" she whispered.

"Thought I could fix him...like before, when we were kids. I thought...I thought it could be like before. But..."

Tonks blinked, her eyes wet and she shook herself, glancing at the carpet.

"You never recover from losing a friend. It's even worse losing more. You're just never complete. Nothing is the same. It can't be. Because they're not there. And it changes people." she swallowed. " Sirius has gone through hell and he's still trying to find his way back. But Remus...you might never get _your_ Sirius back..." she whispered.

Remus nodded, closing his eyes and took a shuddering breath.

A weak, almost grim smile came through.

"I guess we have more in common than I thought." he whispered.

Tonks gave him a watery smile of her own. Her hand touched his and curled her fingers into his palm.

"I guess we do, huh?"

* * *

Aero got up from the bed once she was sure Sirius had fallen into a light sleep. She kissed his forehead and walked towards the door, closing it softly behind her. As she walked down the hall a twinge hit her stomache and shehunched over, one arm out with a hand splayed across the wall for support. Her eyes were wide and bile rose in her throat and she stumbled to the bathroom down the hall, flinging the door open and falling to her knees with a thud, head bent over the toilet.

She shuddered as she threw up, eyes clenched shut. She laid her head down, shaking, and took a breath to try and steady herself. That was odd. She thought she had gotten over her illness. Maybe she was dehydrated, or over exhausted or something. She crawled backwards and leaned against the bathroom wall, arms wrapped around her stomach as her head swam.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. When she closed her eyes a green flash chased them back open and her eyes widened, her hear stuttering. She glanced around the room wearily before scolding herself. She heaved herself up from the floor and dusted herself off, taking a deep breath and flushed the toilet, washed her hands and sp;ashed some cold water on her face.

"You're fine..." she told herself, staring hard at her reflection.

She gripped the sink hard and then nodded to herself, leaving the room. She checked on Selena, sound asleep in her room, and kissed her on the forehead, re-tucking her in.

As she headed downstairs she caught an odd, yet familiar scent coming from the kitchen. She moved, avoiding Kreacher who was muttering low under his breath about blood-traitors or something, and went to the door, pushing it open a crack.

Her eyes widened as she recognized the smell.

She shook her head. Charlie and Tonks...smoking...in the kitchen. Well, at least it was organic. Probably help relieve Charlie of some stress he no doubt had from his sudden parernt hood. She went out and partied. He got high with her cousin. _Alright_.


	45. Chapter 45 Monster in Disturbia

**Good Lord, forgive me for this chapter. Half the time I had no idea where I was going with it but now...I think I know what I want to do. We'll see. **

**This will be my chapter before the Holiday, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone, and if you're not celebrating Thanksgiving, HAPPY THURSDAY! **

**So, I figured I'd add a little depth to Vaine, I felt like I hadn't really done anything with him that revealed who he was. I feel like the children of Death Eaters suck, and I've only showed how it effects Aero. There are a few other DE children that will get a chance to tell their story here. Vaine will continue to develop, along with his relationship with Aero, like what it was like when they were together and such. Looking back through FH, I didn't really describe anything really well, so I'll probably just add more to it later in revision. Things will develop from now on in the story, though they might not start off with Aero or Fred or anything...if that makes sense? What other people do will influence their lives, if you will. And I'll definately be spending more time with writing about Fred and Aero next chapter. **

**Now, I'm off to watch the BRUINS! Later! **

**-Little **

* * *

_We're in the city of wonder, ain't gonna play nice, _

_Watch out, you might just go under _

_So if you must faulter, be wise _

_Your mind is in Disturbia! _

_It's like the darkness is the light _

_A disease of the mind it can control you _

_It's too close for comfort _

_...Disturbia! _

**Disturbia - **Rihanna

* * *

The doors swung open and the group turned, watching the cloaked figure approach hurriedly. His feet tapped against the cold floor, echoing in the silence. Finally he stopped, head bowed respectfully.

"My Lord." he murmured in greeting.

"What is it that's brought you here, boy?" he asked coldly.

The boy swallowed thickly and then glanced hesitantly at his Master's face before looking back down.

"I have an urgent family emergency report for Solomon Selwyn, My Lord." he said quietly.

The Dark Lord gazed at him a moment and turned his head to look at the older, greying gentleman further down the table.

"What is it, boy?" The Dark Lord demanded.

The boy cleared his throat.

"Mister Zacharias Selwyn would wish me to tell his son that Solomon Selwyn's cousins, Scott and Quintin Selwyn were just found outside a Bar on Wade Street, London." he reported.

Solomon Selwyn narrowed his eyes, mouth thinning.

"How?" he damanded in his usually low, cold, drawling voice.

The boy, much less afraid of the older Death Eater, met his gave dully.

"It would appear, Sir, they murdered each other."

Solomon's eyes widened before narrowing into angry slits.

"Murdered each other, you say? Proposterous. This is a framing. Surely someone else murdered my young cousins!"

The boy shrugged, uneffected.

"Perhaps. Some people were interviewed by the Ministry. I was told by a reliable source that they did infact leave out the alley door with a young, _very_ young, blonde woman." he said with a smirk.

"Ooh, that has to be a lie. What young thing would go into an alley with those two?" Rabastan LeStrange cackled.

Solomon shot him a look.

"She is the murderer." he declared.

"Do we know any young blondes with a killer inside them?" Rabastan asked casually.

"Why would we? It is of no concern to us, this woman. Your cousins were not members, they do not serve under our Master. It was probably a rape gone sour." Dolohov muttered.

"Little witchy turned on 'em. Girl's got a fire. Maybe I _should_ hunt her down..." Rabastan taunted with a playful smirk.

Solomon's hands gripped the table.

"Enough."

They silenced themselves immediatley and turned to look at their master.

"We will fear nothing. It is an unfortunate twist of fate, a mere random event, that one of our own lost two members to murder. We have other matters to attend to now. Solomon will return later tonight to grieve with his family, if he so wishes. Tell that to Zacharias Selwyn, boy." The Dark Lord said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The bow bowed his head again and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Thantos?" The Dark Lord called softly.

The boy halted, lifting his hood to reveal the handsome face of Thantos Stict.

"Yes, My Lord?"

"Inform the other youths we shall be meeting next week. A mandatory meeting is required with your mother the day before." he said dully before turning back to his older Death Eaters.

The boy nodded his head and diseappeared into the darkened hall.

* * *

"A whore's murder." Zacharias muttered.

He stood by the fireplace, glaring at the dancing flames, wrinkled hands shoved in his velvet robe's pockets. His children, four of them including his eldest, Solomon, gathered by the couch. His brother, Perseus Selwyn, gazed out the window, silently grieving his sons. His daughter, Celia Selwyn, sat on a plush chair, twirling a lock of silver blonde hair, talking quietly and very disinterestedly with Scotty and Quinton's wives who weeped angrily.

"The children?" Celia wondered.

"At home with my sister." one of the wives said quietly.

"Haven't mentioned it to them yet." the other said.

Zacharias turned to glance at the parlor doorway where his younger sister, Cordelia Selwyn, entered, stoic faced, with her husband, Edmund Umbridge. Their children, Delores, Sandra and Edward entered behind them.

"Tis a travesty, surely, brother." Cordelia said to their brother, Perseus.

Perseus nodded absently.

"Travesty, yes..." he murmured.

Cordelia pursed her lips.

"Have they found the bitch?" she wondered.

Zacharias shook his head.

"No word has come. It's like the disintegrated."

"Diseappeared after she murdered my boys..." Perseus scoffed softly.

Delores, his niece, sat quietly on the couch.

"The Ministry will be laucnhing a full investigation, Uncle." she told him.

Perseus nodded.

"They will not rest until the little tramp is found and convicted to the highest degree. I'll even push for the Dementor's kiss." she said with a sick smile.

Perseus gave the same smile in return.

"Yes, yes. The bitch must be kissed."

* * *

_"No! No!" she screamed. _

_He staggered backwards, arm raised, wand aimed. His arm whipped forward gracefully, fast as lightening, striking before his opponent could dodge. They deflected at the last moment, dancing forward and casting a light back, Sirius barely dodging. _

_"You can do better than that!" he taunted. _

_"Stop!" she shouted. _

_She went to run forward and her foot caught on something hard. She looked down and then propelled herself backwards, hands clasped over her mouth. _

_A figure was on the floor, twisted on its side, facing the floor, legs bent and top arm outstretched. A wand lay inches from her. A wave of blonde hair splayed out over her face. Her pale, cold hand was curled around a larger one, fingers tightly intertwined. Another figure lay feet from her, arm outstretched to hold her hand, laying eagle-spread on his back, hair dissheveled and in his eyes, his big emerald green eyes that stared blankly at something, frightened but not seeing. _

_She followed his gaze and saw a blur of pink and the duel ended before her eyes, the man giving a surprised rasp of a breath, eyes widening, before falling limply to the floor. Just beyond him lay two redheaded figures, face down beside each other in twin puddles of blood. The winning duelist turned to look right at her, a smirk on her pudgey face. _

_She was shocked, the breath was gone from her, her heart was surely pounding on the floor by now it was going so fast. A pain ripped through her and she doubled over, one arm curling instinctively around her stomache and the other steadying hersef on the ground, fingers splayed in a patch of warm crimson liqued. She heard herself give a shuddering breath, eyes tearing and her stomache learched. _

_Stepping from the shadows a woman in a black dress stepped lithely over the redheaded bodies, ignoring the fallen duelist and standing beside the other woman. One is pink and one in black, both cackling. Something, like a bloodied heaping of cloth, wiggled in the second woman's arms. She and the pink one raised their wands, staring at her with smirks. _

_"We have the power here, Ms. Black." they echoed before a blast of green light blinded her and a eery wailing, like a child, pierced the air and beyond her a loud shattering could be heard._

Aero shot up in bed, hair stuck to her face, sweat covering her as her chest heaved. A hand gripped painfully at the skin on her stomache and her eyes searched the room quickly. Something shifted beside her.

She glanced down quickly, ready to jump away, and saw Fred, fully alert, perking up beside her. George groaned on the other side of the room, picking his head up and squinting his eyes sleepily.

"Whas'happning'?" he muttered with a yawn.

Fred looked curiously at Aero, swiping a hand out and pushing strands of hair off her face and behind her ear. His fingertips grazed her chin.

"Alright, love?" he asked cautiously.

Aero nodded absently and her eyes scanned the room again.

"What happened to my lamp?" George wondered then from his dark corner.

Both Fred and Aero looked over so see his lamp completely shattered on the ground.

George frowned grumpily.

"Alright, you lot, what happened to my lamp?" he said accussingly.

Aero bit her lip and looked at Fred. He stared up at her questioningly before looking at his brother. He reached for his wand and flicked it, mending the lamp instantly.

"There, you big baby." he grunted.

George rolled his eyes before turning his back on them and going back to sleep.

Fred sent a glance at his brother before turning to look at her.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." she lied.

Fred narrowed his eyes.

"I thought we didn't do secrets?"

"We only like to hide big ones. Keeps things interesting, yeah?" she said.

Fred smirked.

"Only big ones. Was this big?"

SHe shook her head, sighing and running a hand through her hair.

"Just...a nightmare."

His brow furrowed.

"A nightmare? I thought you hadn't had one in awhile." he murmured, brushing a hand down her back.

She eased back into a laying position, staring hard at the ceiling.

"I haven't. But I did tonight."

Fred frowned.

"You know, for someone as moody as you -" she smacked him "- _ow_ - you seem to always have some great control over your magic. No outbursts like a hormonal teenager. Not once. But that was an outburst and you were dreaming..." he said.

Aero pursed her lips.

"Just a bad dream." she reasoned.

She could feel Fred watching her. He worried too much, surely. Nothing was wrong. She just had some stupid nightmare, her emotions were heightened and she took it out on the lamp. That was all. A slip in mental concentration...even if she usually had outstanding concentration and control of her magic even while sleeping. She shifted as her stomache twinged, like her dinner was doing cartwheels and she turned to lie, facing his chest. His arms wrapped around her and held her to him and he sighed.

"No more nightmares. I'm right here." he murmured.

She nodded sleepily.

"No more nightmares." she agreed.

* * *

The hand was ice cold and clamped down over his mouth. If he hadn't known that voice he would've fought back harder. As it was, he didn't, he hesitated and was now slammed harshly against the wall of a dark room. He searched the storming eyes before him, hoping for some resemblance to hers, and he did. He found he was seeing a prolonged version that he had seen a flash of when she had returned from the parts unknown to him. It wasn't comforting.

He breathed hard against the hand that almost covered his mouth. He had no idea what was going on but knew fighting his way out, like every instinct was telling him to, probably wasn't a good idea. But while most people considered his current attacker _delicate_, or _fragile_, he could certainly testify that this was _not_ the case.

The eyes stared back, unflinchingly into his own. The hand was like a vice around his jaw and mouth, shoving him still against the wall.

"You left her." he stated bluntly.

Fred furrowed his brows in mild confusion.

"You broke her. She can't be broken. _I'm_ broken."

Fred merely blinked. Were they talking about...

"You're together now. You fight for her. You understand me?" Sirius snapped, tugging on his face harshly.

"She's up to something. You've already broken her enough. You don't abandon her, you hear? You will not...she will not bear my sins. She will not be broken. She will not make my mistakes..." Sirius opened his mouth to say more but closed it sharply, almost irritated.

"You keep her. You don't let her go for anything. You'll regret it. It isn't a threat," he said when Fred thrashed, "it's a warning. Take it from someone who knows. You'll regret it. Regret it until the day you die."

He stared at Fred, who eventually understood he was looking for an anwer, and wearily nodded his head.

Sirius nodded, satisfied. He released him, gave him a slap on the cheek, stinging his already red face, and walked from the room, hands in his jean pockets, humming some grim sounding lullabye under his breath as he went.

Fred ran a hand over his jaw, staring wide-eyed at the place where his girlfriend's cousin disappeared and shook his head dazedly. She was right when she had first told him. Her family was fucked up.

* * *

Something blared way too loud downstairs. She followed the familiar floor-shaking music to the living room, stopping to lean against the door frame.

Tonks was jumping on the couch, singing into a hairbrush and spinning mid jump, eyes closed and belting the lyrics out with all her heart, dressed in her usual grunge look, jacket chain clanging against the zipper. Fred and George were dancing around the couch in circles, crying their own version of the lyrics, which like the school anthem, fit whatever they wanted it to. Charlie and Bill were balancing on the other couch, Bill on his knees on the back of the couch, thrashing his head back and forth, Charlie in front of him, strumming out a fast air-guitar, belting out the words as Bill started shaking his hips and toppled backwards.

Selena, on the other hand, was clad in only a single black Weird Sister's tee-shirt, no doubt courtesy of Tonks, that went to her knees. Her blonde curls were up in a high ponytail, magically dyed with blue and purple streaks. She stood in the middle of the chaos, knees bent, arms bent at ninety degrees by her sides, twisting from side to side, making up her own words to scream out.

Aero felt someone come up beside her and momentarily stopped grinning at the madness to see Remus step in beside her, arms across his chest, amusement dancing clearly in his eyes, shaking his head.

"This is quiet a sight, I must say." he murmured.

Aero nodded in agreement, turning back to watch them.

The twins were now dancing in circles around Selena, arms linked like a game of ring-around-the-rosey. Bill had recovered from his fall and was standing in back of the couch, doing a windmill motion with his arms, laughing madly.

"They're all mental..." Kingsley rumbled, appearing behind them.

"Probably." they chorused.

"Filthy screeching, shaking the sacred walls of my mistress' house..." Kreacher muttered, walking past them.

Aero shook her head.

"They're going to raise one troublemaking teenager, I can see it now." she said, glancing at Selena.

Remus shrugged, smiling just slightly.

"In a way, so did us Marauders, but you turned out just fine...Mostly -_ouch._"

* * *

_His little whispers, love me, love me _

_That's all I ask for, love me, love me _

_He battered his tiny fists to feel something _

_Wondered what it's like to touch and feel something _

_Monster _

_How should I feel? _

_Creatures lie here, looking through the window... _

**Monster** - Meg and Dia

* * *

The room was lit only by the dancing flames in the fireplace, sending a warm glow out to the chilly atmosphere that always seemed to haunt the house. The room was filled with extravagent things, from filled-to-the-brim bookcases with patterns carved into the wood, or special wall paper his mother imported, or beautiful yet hard furniture that took up the space nicely.

Todor Marcoff sat in his usual chair by the fireplace, silently reading a thick book, his face stony even then. He looked very much like his sons, with his broad shoulders and muscles. The brown hair of his second child, Vaine, was slicked back neatly, his icey blue eyes like his eldest, Kaloyan, scanned the pages rapidly. His black suit was without wrinkle, his harsh looking black wand laid on the table beside him.

Three house elves scampered throughout the room, tidying the carpet or dusting the curtains or tending to the fire. A small blonde girl lay curled up on the couch across from his, fast asleep with her arms pulled up under her head. Emiliya made a sound in her sleep and curled up tighter, frowning. Vaine entered the room, hesitantly standing at the doorway, regarding his father cautiously.

"Don't just stand there all night, boy." Todor rumbled lowly from his seat.

Vaine hesitated a mere second before coming in to sit at his sister's feet, tossing a blanket over her.

"Evening, Papa." he murmured, bowing his head.

Todor rolled his eyes, flipping a page in his book.

"Still carrying that torch for some idiotic little thing, I see." he father said resentfully.

Vaine pursed his lips but said nothing.

"We work for a noble cause, you foolish boy. We have no time for petty love stories."

"But Papa -"

"Don't 'but' me. Clearly she doesn't return your affections, you fool. She's still clinging shamelessly to that scum's son. She's a bloodtraitor like all the rest, and I will not have you besmerching the Marcoff name by keeping this little boy's act up any longer."

Anger flared within Vaine but he witheld himself.

"She has not yet been named a traitor, has she?" Vaine wondered quietly.

Todor scoffed.

"Might as well be. Only reason she hasn't yet is because that dim-witted blonde aunt of hers, Narcissa, insists the girl can be swayed still."

"Perhaps she is right."

Todor turned to face his son now, looking at him mockingly.

"And you think you'll be the one to turn her away from this good-for nothing boy because you _love_ her?" he asked, smirking.

Vaine swalllowed thickly, trying to meet his father's old eyes.

"Yes." he said quietly.

His father merely shook his head.

"Idiotic son of mine. Why can you not be sensible like your brother?"

"Kal married the girl he loved." Emiliyaspoke softly, waking with a stretch that reminded Vaine of a kitten.

"Yes, a pureblood girl that had never strayed and returned his affections, Emiliya. Your brother here seems to want an unobtainable girl."

Emiliya shrugged indifferently.

"Love conquers all, Papa."

Todor wrinkled his nose.

"You've been reading those love stories with your cousin again, haven't you?" their father muttered.

Emiliya smiled gently.

"It does not have to be in stories, to be true, Papa. Why can brother not have what he wants?"

"Because the girl does not desire him, and I do not desire her, after choices she's made."

"But the boy, despite his blood traitoring family, is still of pureblood, is he not?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Ah, but I thought it did."

Todor turned to stare hard at his youngest, who met his gaze unblinkingly with moss green eyes so like her mother's. He sniffed indifferently, turning back to his book.

"To bed, Emiliya." he said after a moment.

"Papa -"

"Now."

With a heavy sigh she untucked her feet from the blanket, kissed both her brother and father on the cheek and left swiftly up the stairs.

There was a moment of silence.

"You will stop pursuing this girl, Vaine." he father ordered quietly.

"But Papa -"

A smack resounded through the room. Vaine blinked away the stinging of tears and kept his face turned from his father. Todor didn't even bother rubbing the back of his hand, he no longer felt the stinging from actions like that.

"Do not go against me, boy."

Vaine clenched his fists on the couch.

"Papa please..." he whispered.

"Find someone else."

"There is no one else."

"There are many girls we could arrange to - "

_"There is no one else!"_

Todor was up from his chair and Vaine felt himself on the floor, his father's stell toed shoe pressed against his stomach. Vaine hacked a cough, his eyes watered from the pain.

"There is _always_ someone else." Todor said through gritted teeth.

Vaine thought of the shirt in his pocket. He thought of the smell of the fruity shampoo that lingered there, that made his mind of hazy at the scent. He thought of how his stomach squirmed when she smiled at him. He thought of how she fit perfectly in his arms. He thought of how that used to be his father with his mother, his mother who never would've let this happen. She would've liked Aero. She would've supported him.

"I want no one else..." Vaine whispered, clenching his eyes shut.

Todor's eyes flashed with anger and his wand slashed forward through the air and Vaine twitched violently, like he had gotten an electric shot. Pins were in his heart, stabbing him and stabbing him, and daggers slashed at his lungs, he couldn't breathe, and a sword stabbed through his stomach, he couldn't move. Nothing was there. But he felt it. He always felt it. His mouth opened but he willed his voice to remain silent.

"There is always someone else." he father repeated angrily.

Vaine felt his hand slide past his jacket pocket and brushed against the soft shirt there. He remembered the Quidditch Cup match, remembered her cheering for him, laughing with him. He would find her, he would have her, he would never have to return here again and they'd be together and happy, away from their parents. He heard his father walk from the room, his body shuddering.

_No_, he thought, _there will never be anyone else _


	46. Chapter 46 Strange happenings

**I got SOOO many reviews for the last chapter. I seemed to make all of you start feeling bad for Vaine in all of about five lines. I do, in fact, feel bad for the children of the Death Eaters. I mean, Aero got screwed over by having Bellatrix and Rodolphus and is mentally unstable, if her thousand breakdowns are any hint. Draco, who everyone naturally feels sympathetic to for many reasons, feels pressure to do as he's told even if he doesn't like it. And Vaine and the Stict children are DE children too, so I figured I'd add some depth to them, you know? Stict children will be coming up, if that Thantos Stict thing last chapter was any indication. And of course, the number one question...IS SHE PREGNANT? Well I can tell you all now, you will not know for AT LEAST a few more chapters. Sorry xD **

* * *

It's a cruel cruel world to face on your own,

a heavy cross, to carry along,

the lights are one, but everyone's gone

And it's cruel...

It's a funny way, to make ends meet

when the lights are out, on every street,

It feels alright, but never complete, without joy

I checked you! If it's already been done, undo it

The Principal of Nature, it's true, but it's a cruel world

we can play it safe, or play it cool, follow the leader, or make up the rules

Whatever you want, the choice is yours,

So choose...

_Heavy Cross_ - **Gossip**

* * *

"Where have you been?"

She stopped at the sound of his voice, a low hum as usual. But his eyes were sharper tonight, piercing even and she vowed herself not to waver. She would not waver again. Never again was she to bend to someone's will like that.

"I was out, clearly."

His brows rose just barely as he regarded her. He folded the Daily Prophet in his lap.

"I can see as much. I believe I asked where, Ebony." Monty said, sitting up straighter in his chair.

Ebony took a breath and met his gaze.

"I didn't realize you were going to check up on me, Monty."

"I shouldn't have to."

"Then don't."

Monty watched her from his seat and she felt like he knew. But she shouldn't care. She didn't care. She was able to make her own decisions.

"Have you forgotten the danger this whole family is in? You were a spy during the last war, Ebony. The Dark Lord has risen again. We're in a secret location for a reason. I cannot have people freely coming and going through this house."

Her teeth gritted.

"Do not think you can tell me what to do, Monty. I am no child of yours." she snarled, her lip curling.

His brows rose even higher now.

"I haven't seen you this temperamental since you last kept company with Bellatrix." he murmured.

"She was my _friend_."

"And Aero is your _goddaughter_."

"What does she even have to do with this!" Ebony exclaimed.

"Bellatrix was your friend. Aero is your goddaughter. Bellatrix wants Aero dead."

"You think I have forgotten that? She has been like my daughter all these years..."

Monty placed his paper on the side table and stood slowly.

"And over the years you've slowly begun to lose contact with her, haven't you?"

Ebony's eyes widened.

"What kind of accusation is that?" she asked.

"A fair one. When she began school, you eventually stopped writing letters. You moved the children to another school. She never came over in the Summer anymore. Why is that, if she is like your daughter?"

Ebony shook her head in disbelief.

"I believe we both know where you were tonight, Ebony." he said quietly.

"Oh? Well why not tell the Order then?"

"You would have me turn you in as a double agent?"

"I am only a double agent in the first place because of _you_!"

"For the sake of our family!"

"For the sake of your own morals! You claim you love me, Monty Stict, but if you loved me so much you never would've tried to change me."

"You put this whole family, our children, in danger in multiple ways by signing your allegiance to that vile man!"

"So turn me in! Turn me in to Dumbledore, Monty. Do it."

A stricken look crossed his wrinkling face.

"Ebony..." he said softly.

"Do it, Monty." she dared, taking a step forward.

He turned his head from her, staring silently out the window and she shook her head, eyes a little bit damper than before, and walked out of the room. Monty took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. They both knew where she was tonight. He had feared something like this when news of his rising spread. When she started detatching from Aero he should've seen the signs. When that close call on Aero's life came, he should've spoken up. But she was more than his wife. That was a title between them. She was the mother of his children. His family was already crumbling in this protective isolation, could he really finish them off by turning their mother in for being a double spy? He could barely fathom that thought, let alone the fact her hair was tossled and her face unusually flushed and glowing, like she had just gotten out of bed...despite the fact she hadn't slept in their bed last night.

* * *

Protean Charm. A nifty little thing, Rylance Stict had to admit. Linking objects together through a common purpose, like communication. Comes in handy when one has to ignore the shouting of one's parents just downthe stairs...

She sighed, turning to the picture frame on her nightstand, tapping it with her wand. A face appeared in the glass of teh frame, looking tired with just barely noticeable lines under the eyes. Rylance pushed her blonde hair from her face, gazing intently at the girl. The other looked up from a paper she had apparrently been writing and when she saw the blonde's face in her own object, she smiled.

"Ry, I thought to never hear from you again." the girl teased.

Rylance smiled, laying her head down on a pillow.

"Sorry. I didn't want to intterrupt your school work."

"Please, I beg for a distraction now."

The girl said this as she fussed with her green tied, taking it off, before glancing at Rylance, concern crossing her features.

"How are you? I can't imagine things are getting much better?"

"No. Nothing is getting any better. It's worse, in fact. A few months ago I would've thought it impossible." Rylance replied.

"What's going on? You look exhausted."

Rylance sighed, her blue eyes looked dull and lifeless for a moment.

"Have you ever felt like your whole family is just divided? Like you're all eventually going to have to pick sides?" she asked.

The other tilted her head, dark hair falling slightly from its tight bun.

"And I have absolutely no idea which side I'm on..."

The brunette settled into her seat.

"Ry...I've...heard things, about your family, recently." she admitted.

Rylance turned her head. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"It's true, isn't it?" she asked quietly, almost as if begging for her suspicsions to be wrong.

The darker haired offered a sympathetic smile in return.

"I'm sorry, Rylance..." she said gently.

The blonde shook her head, a stray tear shining down her cheek.

"Thantos?" she asked.

"And your mother..."

Rylance screwed her face up.

"Why? Why this stupid war? Why everything?" she asked angrily.

"Rylance -" the other cautioned.

"_Why_! My whole family is being torn apart by some stupid war that doesn't even have to involve us! This stupid, damn war! It hasn't even started yet and my family is crumbling at the seams..."

The brunette watched quietly from her place, wanting for nothing more than to reach out. She wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, but she knew it wouldn't. And she knew her torn companion would indeed have to to the unthinkable and choose sides within her own family when the time came.

Rylance wiped her face on her sleeve, sniffling.

"What do I do?" the blonde whispered.

"I can't tell you what to do, Rylance. This must be your choice. Because either way...someone will get hurt. Either way, you'll be against someone."

Rylance managed a weak grin.

"You're two years younger than me. Aren't I supposed to be the one advising you?"

The brunette smirked.

"Well, you're a stupid Gryffindor. Of course the Slytherin is the smarter of the two."

"Conceited."

The girl gave a tinkling laugh.

"So uhm...how's the _boyfriend_?" Rylance asked reluctantly, the last word tasting bitter in her mouth.

The girl seemed to hesitate.

"He seems to impress my parents..." she said.

"I would think so, someone from his family and all...what about your sister?"

The girl cringed.

"Well, there's one problem we don't share. You can't decide what side to be on. My sister doesn't give me a choice."

Rylance moved her hand, her finger tips grazing the glass. The brunette lifted her hand to do the same and Rylance swore she could feel the heat of the younger girl course through her.

"I miss you, Astoria..." she whispered.

The other's face softened.

"I miss you too..."

A figure moved in the doorway, unknown to the girls. Xoe stood, half-hidden by the frame, and watched her younger sister. She laid her head against the wood as the other two whispered to each other. It wasn't fair, for a war that would do doubt be more bloody and terrifying than the first, to effect an innocent child like Rylance. It wasn't fair, and as much as it pained her to admit it, Xoe couldn't stop it from tearing their family apart. Rylance was right when she said she'd have to choose sides. It wouldn't be easy. And it would hurt. But their mother and older brother already chose without so much as blinking and Xoe seemed to find herself doing the same. She had always been close with her mother, and the thought of opposing her on the battlefield...it was frightening. She hoped Rylance would forgive her, forgive all of them when it was over. If there was still anyone left to forgive...

* * *

Aero hiked the basket up further on her hip, staring at the heap of clothes on the living room floor. She pursed her lips.

"Fred?" she called.

"Yes?" he asked, poking his head out of the bedroom.

"Didn't I ask for all the laundry?" she asked.

"Uhm..." his eyes landed on the clothes and they widened in understanding. "Well you see, I found some more under the bed and -"

"Fred!"

He grinned easily at her.

"Sorry, love."

She rolled her eyes.

"You're going to start doing your own laundry from now on." she told him, shaking her head.

"I don't know how to do laundry though."

"You can learn."

"From who? My mother?"

She pushed past him into the bedroom and put the basket on the bed.

"Ah yes, the woman you're still avoiding." she said as she puleld George's clothes from the pile.

"Obviously I'm still avoiding her, I haven't entered Grimmauld place in weeks." he complained, dropping ontothe bed beside the basket.

"You could always go see her." Aero suggested.

Fred frowned.

"After I blew up at her? I don't think so."

"Fred, she's your mother."

"So's yours."

Aero narrowed her eyes at him.

"Different situations. Mine's the Devil's mistress and yours loves you."

Fred groaned.

"I know. I know she loves me but...I hate when she compares us to everyone else, especially Percy. I mean, the prat turns his back on his family, doesn't even come around when Dad nearly dies, and she still thinks George and I should be more like him. We can't win. She just doesn't understand us."

Aero sighed.

"Maybe she just doesn't understand the business, the joke shop? Maybe she thinks you deserve better."

"Like working a 9-5 at the Ministry, the people who currently hate us, is better?"

"Your dad works there."

"Yeah and so did you. Doesn't mean I should work there."

Aero shrugged.

Fred glanced up at her thoughtfully.

"Do you think you'll ever become an Auror again?" he asked.

"I shouldn't have been one in the first place." she said, folding a t-shirt.

"What are you talking about? You're amazing in DA."

"Yeah, but the only reason I was there was because of my family and eventually because I was a tool to look into Dumbledore because they thought he was using me as a spy."

"Which he was."

"Exactly."

"But I mean when this is all over, do you think you'll become one again, given the option?"

Aero frowned.

"I don't know...I might get my fill by then, fighting dark wizards." she admitted.

Fred grinned.

"I can imagine you, being all lethal and dark. I bet you look all intense, like when you're angry at me, and it looks like there's this raging storm in your eyes. I bet you look beautiful when you fight. You look like you're dancing when you do, at least from what I saw in classes." Fred said with a teasing smirk.

She raised a brow at him, folding his jeans.

"Dancing?" she asked.

"Dancing. Like this fierce little thing out there, shooting off all these sparks and spinning and twisting all graceful while fighting. It's quite a sight, I have to say. Like watching a hurricane brew right before your eyes."

She shook her head, her cheeks heating.

"It's true." he insisted. "That's why no one was suprised when you became an Auror, you know. Because it just seemed to fit you. Even if at the time you were still in training and whatnot."

"Oh just shut-up."

Fred grinned, rolling onto his stomach.

"George is down at the shop..." he said, raising a brow at her.

Aero glanced at him.

"I do believe you're trying to hint something at me, Weasley."

"Maybe."

She grinned despite herself, throwing the half-folded shirt back into the basket carelessly. She crossed her arms under her chest and Fred sat up on the bed, and quick as lightening shot a hand out and tugged her wrist, sending her falling towards him. He rolled over her and grinned down at her.

"You're so romantic." she muttered, fighting a smirk.

"I'm the romantic all romantists romanticize about being." he agreed.

She rolled her eyes as his hands crept under her shirt.

"How long will George set-up the shop on his own?" she wondered, looping her arms around his neck.

Fred shrugged.

"Long enough. And if not..._oh well_."

* * *

He stood against the brick wall, leaning back against it and watched through hard eyes. They hadn't even bothered to close the curtains. Of course, they probably didn't care. They probably thought they were safe there, with their warded loft, that no one could find them. But he did. And if he did, certainly others could, and probably would. That left her vulnerable.

He felt like he was racing a clock. If he could find her this easily, watch her this easily, of course someone, someone with a malicious intent, someone wishing her harm, could and certainly would show up for her. It was only a matter of time. This boy, these two boys who had stupid little fantasy dreams, where nothing bad ever happened, were misleading her into a false sense of security. That left her vulnerable, unprepared and unsuspecting. That left her prone to harm, to _death_. Something he couldn't allow to happen to her.

He watched the shadows moving in the room and his fists clenched. He wasn't right for her. He was all wrong. All he ever did was hurt her, again and again. But she didn't know better. She was young, she was hoping for someone to save her from her parents, her family. She clung to the first who tried. He understood that. She had offered the same to him, even though she didn't realize it. She offered him a future, away from his family. He would do the same for her. The boy couldn't understand her pain, her suffering, her fear. And that would be their downfall. He had no idea what world he was entering, getting involved with the daughter of Death Eaters. They were too different. She was wealthy, he was poor. She had a horrible family, his was close. He dreamed, she regretted. But he couldn't allow the boy to realize that and hurt her already fragile heart. That would defeat his purpose of saving her from him. He would have to make her realize it first.

Vaine glowered at the loft window. The other brother could be seen through the shop windows, unpacking and stocking the boxes and shelves. They were all completely oblivious.

"Stalking really doesn't become you, Vaine."

Vaine spun to see Thantos Stict, casually leaning against the wall beside him. The older boy flicked dark hair from his olive skinned face, dark eyes searching the window as well, though only out of semi-interest. He flicked his cigarette to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot, shoving his hands in his black jacket pockets.

"Vhat are you doing here?" Vaine demanded.

Thantos shook his head, like amusing a small child.

"I can't very well go on letting you obsess over her without finding out your intentions."

Vaine frowned.

"Vhy are my intentions any concern of yours?" he wondered suspiciously.

Thantos shrugged his shoulders, gaze caught on the window as a clothed Aero made her way across the glass, running a hand through her hair, just as Vaine remembered she did when she was exhausted.

"There are many secrets in a family, did you know that?" Thantos said conversationally.

Vaine's brows furrowed.

"How do you speak?"

Thantos gave a dry laugh, watching the teenager pick up a laundry basket. Vaine felt unnerved by the older boy's stare. He had always felt uncomfortable at meetings around the younger brother, Owen, but because he was more openly...mental. Almost obsessive about death and gleefully sadistic. But Thantos, he was the more reserved brother, the eldest brother. But his gazes were always intense, like he knew some dark secret you didn't even know you had.

"A secret can stay dormant for years, Vaine. But in the end, it always comes to the surface. Which is why I'm here. I have a certain...obligation, as it were, to discover your intents."

Vaine shook his head.

"You make no sense."

Thantos gave him a sly smirk.

"I suppose to you, I don't. But trust me, Vaine Marcoff, you will." Thantos stepped closer, meeting face to face with the confused Bulgarian.

In a low whisper he spoke.

"But just because I know and you don't, that doesn't change the facts. I have a certain interest in the girl you obsess over, and I don't like it. I don't like the way you look at her. I don't like the way you talk about her. I don't like that she dumped your sorry arse and you keep coming around. I may not completely agree with her choices, but they are hers to make, you understand? You best watch yourself, Marcoff, because I know I will be."

Thantos' dark eyes stared coldly into his own, and this close he could see the slight bronze highlights in the dark hair and something rang in the back of his mind but before he could catch it Thantos stalked past him, crashing into his shoulder and ssending Vaine into the wall to steady himself and before Vaine blinked he was around the corner and gone. He glanced up, dazed, at the window and found the curtains closed.

* * *

**I was thinking of making another thing, a side project I guess, containing outtakes from the Honors stories, which I'll be updating over break. I thought maybe I'd put a little Christmas-winter holiday excerpt in there, like a Christmas-Past of some characters from PH and FH? Like a past CHristmas for Aero, or Sirius or something. Maybe the Order during a Christmas Holiday during the first war even? IDK. What do YOU guys think? (Obviously there'd be more eventually than festive excerpts and such. Little side blurps that would seem unimportant to put in the actual stories) **


	47. Chapter 47 Things in common

**I know I originally said I'd do a festive outtake, but I ran out of time. I'll definately be posting outtakes, random things that generally don't make it into the story itself. Like if tonks and charlie were to mention a bit from their school days, I might write a small scene about that. Or when Molly talks about her brothers, or her mother, Gwendolyn, like when Aero was in the hospital, I might post that. **

* * *

"Daily Prophet has sent a third condolence article to their 'Dear Ministry friend, Delores Umbridge.'" Remus read aloud, taking a sip of his morning tea.

Tonks flicked her eyes over at the older man, her head laid heavy on her folded arms atop the kitchen table. She hummed in reply.

"Aren't her lot all involved in the hubbub? Why they gettin' snipped off like common fleas?" Dung asked as he teared into his eggs.

Remus shrugged and offered a sigh, running a hand over his face, looking tired.

"Who knows. Someone perhaps might just have a personal grudge against the family." Remus said.

"Becoming a bit of a serial killing, yeah?" Dung muttered, biting a large piece of toast.

Tonks yawned, closing her eyes.

"Good riddance." she said sleepily.

"Excuse you?" Remus asked, raising his brows in surprise.

Tonks shrugged once.

"It's got that bitch up in a tizzy, it does. She sent a howler to some of the offices the other night, demanding the Aurors do something immediately." Tonks said.

"Have you found anything?" Remus asked.

Tonks shook her head, frowning.

"Nah. Not like many are searching hard. There's a lot of older members in the Auror office, friends of Mad-eye's. They remember the Selwyns' causing trouble during the last war, mainly because they were Death Eaters who bought and lied their way out, like Lucius Malfoy. But..."

"But?" Remus prompted when she trailed off.

Tonks shifted so her chin rested on the back of her hands.

"It's a bit odd, isn't it? Whoever did this...they make the others kills each other, doesn't even raise their own wand to do it. We found no traces of any charms on the bodies, they did it in their right minds, just turned on themselves. They're very good, very careful. We use every trick we've been taught as Aurors to use to investigate, and this person seems to have anticipated every method."

Remus frowned.

"They knew what methods you'd use to try and find evidence linking back to the killer and avoided leaving anything behind that you could detect?" he wondered.

Tonks nodded her head.

"It's odd..." she said.

Remus lifted the paper back up, looking troubled.

"Yes, indeed. Very odd."

* * *

Aero groaned, the sound echoing through the porcelain. She closed her eyes, gripping the sides of the cool, white toilet and curled her knees further under her. Her head was pounding _incessantly_ and her stomach was tossing. She breathed through her mouth and tried to stop the trembling that always seemed to come after throwing up, which she seemed to be doing a lot more than normal. At least it wasn't a constant occurrence. It was more like she had the flu that just wouldn't leave.

It was all because Sirius had decided her wanted eggs for breakfast...stupid, annoying, obnoxious, ingorant, _annoying_ -

Sirius pounded unnecessarily loudly on the door, making it shake in its frame. Aero scrunched her face up in annoyance.

"Oi! Are you coming out for breakfast?" he asked through the door.

Aero's lip curled and she tried to penetrate the door with her glare.

"No." she said flatly.

She could practically feel his confusion radiating through the wood.

"Why?" he asked, clearly not leaving.

She rolled her eyes.

"Go away." she demanded.

"Come out!" Sirius countered.

"No."

Sirius started pounding on the door again and when she didn't answer for five minutes it stopped. She listened through the pounding in her head to his fading footsteps. She heaved a sighed, brushing some hair away from her slightly sweaty forehead. And then her stomach tossed harshly as something dropped outside the door and the smell of Sirius' breakfast wafted under the door.

"Sirius!" she shouted angrily before pouring herself back over the toilet.

* * *

She opened the bathroom door about a half hour later, running a still slightly shaking hand through her hair, exhausted and a little paler than usual with a sheen of sweat down her neck. She shut the door and visibly jumped when she saw Sirius sitting against the wall with Remus at his side, both sitting casually outside the bathroom. Sirius looked up with a raised eyebrow and Remus looked like he just discovered the secret of the world finally.

She weakly glowered at the both of them.

"What?" she snapped.

"Something you want to tell us?" Sirius asked.

Aero frowned, her eyes narrowed. She was tired, and apparrently sick. She did not want to deal with Sirius today.

"No...?"

"Are you sure? You can tell us, you know. It's alright. We'll work it all out." Remus said gently.

She stared questioningly between the both of them, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Do I even want to know what the two of you are on about?" she asked wearily.

Sirius raised himself fromthe floor and leaned in closely, as if inspecting her, and Aero stepped back, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Can I help you, prat?" she asked.

Sirius pursed his lips.

"I'm rubbing the snappishness down as hormones." he said finally, nodding.

"Hormones..._what_?"

"Sirius, this can be a delicate situation, to be handled with care." Remus interrupted.

"Well she should've said something." Sirius complained.

"I think we both know her enough to know she wouldn't do that. She might have thought it would interrupt her Order Training with Mad-eye, keep her from having an active role." Remus said, placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"But we're family, I should know when I'm getting a knew cousin." Sirius said stubbornly.

Remus gave a sigh.

"It's a delicate situation, Sirius, which is why I wish you wouldn't get involved."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Sirius cried with idignation.

"It's a sensetive conversation, and you, being you, tend to crash right into things and send situations such as these right to hell."

"I do not! I resent that."

"Need I remind you of the last situation you handled with a startling lack of tact and subtly -"

"That was completely different!"

"Hardly." Remus said with a snort.

Sirius folded his arms in front of him, scowling at the man.

Aero looked tiredly between them, shaking her head. While the two were locked in a staring contest she made her way silently down the hall. She sent her arms to the side, raising her eyes to the ceiling, exasperated.

"This whole house is bloody fuckin' mental..."

* * *

"This is a dangerous thing to be doing."

Aero glanced over her shoulder when the smooth, deep voice met her ear and she turned, staring up at none other than her Godbrother, Thantos Stict. She hadn't seen him in probably years, but he still looked the same. He was so much taller than her, definately over six feet, broad shoulder with a lean figure though he was fit. He had bronzed skin like his mother's, a dark black that would give midnight a run for its money but standing in the sun the way he did she recognized the barely there rusted highlights between the strands. His grin was still that roguish one she'd known since childhood and his eyes danced like they held everything you wanted to know but couldn't. He hadn't changed a bit.

"Well, I always liked a bit of a thrill." she said, tossing a smirk his way before turning back to look through the rack of clothes. Selena was once again, growing out of her outfits.

Thantos leaned casually against another rack of clothes.

"Oh I remember. It's something you and I share in common."

She shook her head, smiling slightly as she examined a purple dress.

"Get her the green. Brings out her eyes." Thantos suggested.

Aero glanced at him.

"And you'd know this because...?" she asked, putting the green dress in her basket.

He shrugged.

"I have a way of knowing these things..." he replied.

"Mhmm. That doesn't make me want to re-ward the house." she muttered.

He grinned, leaning towards her.

"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea. You've got a lot of people after your head, little one."

She have a tiny snort of laughter.

"Tell me something I don't know. And what are you doing here, out of seclusion?" she asked.

"Well, why guarding your lovely self, of course."

She nodded her head, rolling her eyes.

"There's just as many people after me as there are you." she reminded him.

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, I suppose you _are_ right about that."

She turned to face him, leaning against a crate of shoes.

"What are you really doing here, Thantos?" she asked quietly.

Thantos met her gaze steadily before glancing out at the busy streets of Diagon Alley. He seemed to heave a silent sigh and after a moment he spoke.

"I was serious. I'm guarding you." he said, turning to glance at her with his signiture grin.

She shook her head, smiling to herself.

"Thantos. I haven't seen you in years. Why now are you making an appearance?" she wondered.

He shrugged, catching her eyes.

"Because while I knew there was always that threat to you by your parents...it was never real. Not until now. Besides...something...something changed. So here I am."

She tilted her head, watching him.

"What changed?" she asked.

He shook his head, smiling now and his eyes showed a secret just beyond his lips she knew he probably wasn't going to tell her. Not in this conversation.

"We share a lot more in common than our thrill for the dangerous life, little Aero. Now do me a favor. Go on back to your little safe house for me? It'll be much easier to look after you if you meet me half way." he said, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head and while she tried to kick-start her brain into functioning and figuring out what he was talking about, he had disapeared into the crowd of strangers and when she turned to pay for the stack of clothes for Selena she found they were already paid for.

* * *

**It's not much this chapter, but I figured I'd put something out there for now. There'll be more Fred and Aero coming up. **


	48. Chapter 48 Something strange

Aero curled on her side, head buried in the pillows, her body swallowed by the covers while she laid in the dark with the shades drawn. She breathed through her mouth, her eyes clenched shut, arms folded around her stomach and legs drawn up to her chest. The door opened, emitting a sliver of light from the hall, and a sound of light pattering flitted through the room before the bed shifted, like something pounced on the mattress.

Something burrowed into her side, forcing her arms up and around something small and warm. Something tickled her arm and under her chin and Aero scrunched her face up in confusion. She peeked an eye open and glanced down, seeing a shadowed blonde color hiding against her chest, and then it moved and large eyes peered up at her, green as emeralds, and blinked.

"Selena?" Aero asked quietly, feeling her stomach clench again.

Selena made a face at her that Aero contrued as worried and she felt her own concern flow through her, wondering what could possibly be troubling her goddaughter.

"Are you alright?" Aero asked, her free arm brushing some blonde curls from the little girl's face.

Selena's bottom lip jutted out.

"Charlie said you should be up by now." Selena informed her, her eyes large and confused.

Aero sighed heavily, closing her eyes.

"I know. I just...don't feel well."she admitted reluctantly.

Selena's eyes widened.

"Do you need Uncle Moony?" Selena asked.

Aero gave her a small smile and shook her head. It was nothing besides small cramps. She was probably just going to have a rough cycle this time 'round. She had barely gotten anything the last time. It made her smile though, hearing Selena refer to Remus as 'Uncle Moony', such a familiar and comfortable term. No doubt Sirius had started her on with the Moony thing but the Uncle was entirely her own doing. At least Selena was readjusting well enough to the new living situation. Aero was still trying to get comfortable with the idea of being responsible for a completely other life that depended soley on how her and Charlie handled things. It was both awing and frightening. And more than a little daunting.

"No, no. I'm alright, really. Hey, shouldn't you be getting dressed?" Aero asked.

Selena shrugged with a smile.

"Charlie said I could spend today in my jamas."

Aero raised her brows.

"Did he now?"

Selena nodded seriously.

Aero let out a sigh, rolling her eyes, a grin working up her face. She glanced at her Goddaughter before suddenly enveloping them both in the blankets, lifting her arm up and creating a tent around them.

"Lumos." Aero whispered and the wand by her side lit up, illuminating them both.

Selena giggled excitedly, clapping her little hands.

"Teach me, teach me!" she insisted.

Aero grinned. Selena created her own lumos just by smiling. Aero had a horrible morning, filled with cramps, vomiting and headaches and all Selena had to do was come in here and smile and she was feeling better. Instead, she lifted her other hand and nodded her head. Selena followed to where she nodded and laughed. A shadow was on the thin blanket, a bunny hopping across.

"I wanna try!"

Aero folded her hands in place and suddenly a bird accompanied the rabbit on its journey. She listened, content, as Selena rattled off a story from her child-like imagination about how the bird was flying over a field with the rabbit and they were on their way to a party for their Hippogriff friend. Aero watched her, the emerald green eyes dancing with life, with an innocence Aero had never had, one that she had been afraid would be broken by experiencing her parents' deaths. But here it was, intact and alive as ever, and for a moment, hidden from the rest of the world under the false-security of the tented blankets, Aero thought maybe she might just be able to keep that light in the little girl's eyes. She'd sure as hell try.

* * *

She stirred awake when her brain finally processed the new source of heat in the bed. She blinked her eyes sleepily, waiting for the dreamy haze to leave her vision before she remembered she was under the blankets completely with Selena nestled into her stomach. But her hand was captured by something extremely warm and she followed the hand all the way up an arm to see clear blue eyes gazing at her and she gave a start.

"Fred." she whispered, feeling her heart race.

He sent a large, warm grin her way.

"Sorry." he whispered back, using his free hand to continue brushing through Selena's blonde curls.

Aero shook her head.

"When did you get here?"

He shrugged, the blanket resting on them moving with him.

"Half hour ago?"

Aero smiled sleepily.

"I thought you weren't coming around since your mum spends so much time here."

Fred shrugged again.

"Missed you." he said.

His hand released hers and moved to cup her face, his thumb brushing under her eye.

"Missed you too." she told him.

His thumb brushed airily over her mouth as she watched him. Selena gave a sleepy hum and her hand fisted in Aero's shirt, burrowing her face against it before going still again.

"She's adorable." Fred stated.

Aero nodded. It was a slightly strange situation. She was dating Fred, but raising a kid with his older brother that wasn't even theirs. She wasn't suprised really, when Fred insisted on being there for her when she became the guardian of Selena. Most blokes probably would go running for the Forbidden Forest if their girlfriend suddenly had a kid. She wasn't his, Aero and Fred weren't married, there was no binding committment. But he offered without hesitation, insisted on it even, and never once took it back, or commented when she couldn't stay the night with him to go back and put Selena to bed. He really was an amazing guy. But that was Fred. Family, it came first. Always.

"I ran into Remus downstairs. He said I should talk to you." Fred informed her, looking somewhat concerned.

Aero frowned.

"Did he say why?" she wondered.

Fred shook his head.

"Anything been happening?" he asked.

Aero shrugged.

"I've been getting sick lately, that's all. Nothing more than a bug is all." she said.

Fred frowned now.

"Are you sure? Maybe you should get checked out." he said, brushing some hair from her face.

Aero shook her head.

"I'm fine, really. Just a stomach bug, s'all." she insisted.

Fred seemed to just watch her a moment and then nodded, still frowning.

"I just want you to look after yourself, alright? If it keeps up, get someone to look at you, yeah?"

Aero rolled her eyes but nodded and gave him a smile.

"Stop worrying about me so much." she told him.

Fred gave her a small smile.

"It's you, we're talking about here. All I can do is worry."

* * *

Aero spent the next morning writing letters. She'd been nothing if not neglectful since she left school. Harry was still at Hogwarts without Dumbledore, being crushed under the tyranny of one of the people she hated the most in the world. He was getting antsy, but he had been for months. Katie was writing about how her and Wood were fighting again, though it was infrequent fighting because all he seemed to have time for lately was Quidditch. It had been much easier for them before, when he was still obsessive about Quidditch but they were in the same place. It was now a long distance relationship concrening two people in different stages of life.

Alicia was writing concerning Katie's floundering grades and lack of enthusiasm for trying to mend them. Alicia worried that Katie was losing sight of her priorities because of this Wood thing. Possibly even a little depressed and her parents, and Umbridge, made it perfectly clear that she would be staying back a year if things didn't change and the thought of Katie having to withstand even more time away from Wood and left under the care of Umbridge wasn't sitting well with Aero or Alicia.

Ginny was also writing to her, wanting some relationship advice, concerning things she _certainly_ couldn't write to her mother about. Molly would have a fit, certainly. So Aero told her what someone should've told her. Wait. Aero insisted on it now, really. Neither Aero nor Katie waited, and at the moment Katie was deeply regretting it, concerning her current status with Wood, and Aero didn't so much regret it as just wish she had waited for certain things. Besides, Aero knew, even in her emotionally stunted way, that it should be with the person you love, and though she'd never tell Ginny that, Aero wouldn't approve until it was with Harry.

"Whatcha doin'?" George asked, falling onto the couch space beside her.

Aero finished writing something and then folded the letter, handing it off to an Owl the twins had bought for the store or something.

"Just writing some letters."

"To...?"

"That last one was for Darius. He was asking about what to get Pandora. He's catching up to all the birthdays he missed."

"Well, in all fairness, it's not his fault her mummy dearest didn't tell him."

"True. But he still insists on it."

George nodded, stretching.

"Good man then."

Aero glanced at him.

"You're seeming oddly...calm." she commented.

George raised his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"Do I?"

Aero narrowed her eyes.

"Unsettlingly so. What's going on here?" she said.

George opened his mouth and shut it before shrugging.

"No idea what you're talking about." he said.

Aero stared at him for another moment. Suddenly she was up off the couch, crossing the little loft and swinging the bedroom door open, George protesting loudly behind her. She moved quickly into the room.

"See, nothing here. I don't know why you're so suspicious of me." George said, standing in the doorway.

Aero turned to face him. Was it jsut her or did his eyes look panicked? He was definitely hiding something. But she wasn't sure what.

"George..."

"I'm not hiding anything. Really. If there was, if there was something important going on, you'd know." he told her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

She crossed her arms, looking up at him.

"So I don't get to know the tiny things going on?"

George grinned.

"No."

She heaved a sigh.

"Now, was it just my imagination or were you hiding a letter from Dean out there?" he said, a hint of amusement catching his voice.

Aero pursed her lips.

"I wasn't hiding it."

"Does my brother know you're still corresponding with the man?"

"He doesn't get to control who I'm friends with."

"True. But does that mean he doesn't even get to know?"

"George?"

"Hmm?"

"Unless you want me digging around for that non-important happening in your life, shut up."

"Will do."

* * *

"Mum?"

Ebony turned slightly to the voice as she walked through the front door. Rylance stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching her mother.

"What iz it?" Ebony asked.

Rylance bit her lip.

"Is everything alright?"

Ebony's dark eyes, unreadable, stared at her youngest.

"We're stuck in isolation for an indefinite amount of time, Rylance." her mother pointed out.

Rylance wanted to shrink from the emotionless tone her mother had been using for the past several days but damn it, this was her bloody mother, she wasn't afraid of her.

"Really? I couldn't tell, what with everyone seeming to leave at all hours. Tell me, _mother_, what is this family's definition of isolation?"

Ebony raised an eyebrow.

"Do not strike a tone with me, Rylance. I am your mother."

"Could've fooled me, considering you're never here and when you are it seems you're only here to fight with dad."

Ebony's lips pursed before tinning out and her jaw clenched.

"Now, we're not going to fight, are we?" a smooth voice intervened.

Rylance glanced quickly up the stairs to confirm it was her eldest brother, Thantos, coming down the stairs, his three year old on his hip. Jacinda pulled at a cross necklace around his neck. She had gotten so big since they moved to isolation, to this safe house. Despite them all living in the same house Rylance almost felt she never saw her nieces and nephews. Jacinda, for instance, was starting to look more and more like her mother, though she had the same skin tone as Thantos, it really made her bright red hair stand out.

"We're not fighting." Ebony said promptly.

Thantos raised an eyebrow, so much like his mother, and appraised the scene before him.

"Of course not." he drawled, a slight twitch in his jaw.

He handed Jacinda off to Rylance.

"Xoe is upstairs with Evangeline and Carpathia and their kids, playing some exploding snap. Don't let Jacey burn her eyebrows off again, alright?" he said.

"Where are you going?" Rylance asked defiantly, taking Jacinda into her arms.

"Out."

"Where?"

Thantos shrugged on his jacket and turned his head to look over his shoulder, giving her a smile. He kissed his sister's forehead.

"Don't concern yourself with what trouble I'm getting into."

"But-"

"Rylance! Be quiet already." Ebony demanded.

Rylance narrowed her eyes angrily at her mother.

Thantos calmly looked his mother over before his lips thinned and he opened the door.

"Why don't you come see father with me, mother dear?" he asked, possibly more cold than Rylance had ever heard him.

Ebony started, her eyes barely widening with suprise as she glanced at her son. Rylance watched them in confusion.

"Father's in the kitchen, Than." she told him.

He gave her another smile.

"Oh, is he? Silly me." he said before closing the door behind himself and their mother.

* * *

Aero panted for breath as she heaved herself off the side of the wall, hair hanging in her eyes, sweat beading on her forehead. Her knees trembled and her hands shook and she rasped every breath, but she stood once again before her oponent. Her stomach gave an uneasy flip, making her queasy but she refused to acknowledge it.

She focused instead on the words he had snapped off at her earlier. The signs, the tells. She searched his face, took note of his posture in just a moment, a blink of an eye assessment. That's all she'd have time for in battle. She watched his nostril flare, his pupil dialated just every so slightly and she twisted to the left just in time to dodge a binding spell and she silently sent off her own stinging hex which he deftly avoided only to send a cruciatus curse her way and she dove to the ground before launching up again and diving behind a stack of boxes. She knew she wasn't supposed to hide. He had told her to try an avoid it, because she may come across an environment where there was nothing to hide behind. She had to attack and quickly dispel her opponent.

That was a difficult task when said opponent was the one who taught her everything she knew. Mad-eye was quick to burn through the boxes protecting her. Hopefully nothing important was in those. She dodged to the right and felt the breeze of a spell blast behind her and she tossed one back. Her heart was racing, adrenaline pumped through her body and her stomach gave another heave, more foreceful this time. Almost demanding her attention. But she couldn't Mad-eye was gearing up to go again and she barely caught the casting tells before she was on the ground again, missing another cruciatus curse. She glared up at him and her heart gave a speedy thump, another pump of adrenaline through her veins and felt her stomach toss one more time. And then Mad-eye was thrown against the wall, rather harshly, and slumped to the floor.

Aero's eyes widened in suprise before stumbling to her feet and rushing over, kneeling beside him.

"Mads?" she asked.

His eyes opened, rolling one spinning all around spastically.

"What spell was that, Black?" he asked.

"A...A stinging hex, Mads."

"Stinging hexes don't go throwin' people 'round rooms."

"It was a stinging hex, honest!"

"Don't start apologizing now, Black! I was your opponent, you took me out. That was the point, non-verbal battle. Finally you manage to get it right." Mad-eye said, brushing himself off.

"Now hop upstairs and get some water in you." he told her before hobbling up the stairs.

Aero frowned after him. It had only been a simple stinging hex. It was meant to throw him momentarily off guard so she could get the upper hand in the battle. Not completely _throw_ him. She coupldn't help but think something strange about it. But not having any idea what, she finally made her way upstairs.


	49. Chapter 49 Blood and Games

**Sweet baby Jose, I was supposed to update awhile ago, wasn't I? Well, academics, funerals, Masses and illnesses have gotten me sidetracked, but I'm on track now! **

* * *

If weakness is a wound, that no one wants to speak of

The cool is just how far we have to fall

And I am not immune, I only want to be loved

But I feel safe behind the firewall

And I'm not alright, I'm broken inside, broken inside

Cause honestly, I'm not that strong...

**Sanctus Real** - _I'm not alright _

* * *

Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push. - _The Joker_ - **Batman**

* * *

Aero walked into the kitchen, yawning. She hadn't slept well at all last night. She kept having such vivd dreams of color and sound, but couldn't remember a thing about them.

"Wow, I didn't think we were morally right to do that."

Aero blinked sleepily and sunk into a chair, turning to see Tonks with some morning tea, staring at her. Or well, her, but not exactly where her eyes were.

"What are you on about?"

Tonks gestured with her hand and Aero glanced down at herself. She wore a loop neck purple shirt and some jeans. Perfectly normal.

"Were you and Charlie smoking again?" Aero asked.

Tonks rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Don't play dumb with me, kid. Your boobs were not that big last time I checked."

"You check my tits often now, do you?"

"You know what I mean. I always figured someone would say it was shallow to use our ability to enhance 'em an stuff, but apparrently I was wrong. What, does Fred had a thing for bigger the better?"

Aero had a look of confusion on her face.

"What the hell are you on about? My boobs are the same as always, thank you very much."

Tonks shook her head adamantly.

"You were always a size up from me, it's why I can never borrow that polka dot push up. Now you look way bigger."

"You're a nutter. I haven't done anything."

Tonks leaned across the kitchen table, peering at her closley. Aero, feeling uncomfortable, gave Tonks a look from where she was now leaning back. Tonks' face morphed suddenly into something of excitement and shock and her hair turned a violent shade of electric pink, making Aero's eyes water.

"You're telling the truth!" she exclaimed.

"Of course I am!"

Tonks thrust her hands out and Aero yelped both in suprise and in pain as her cousin was suddenly holding her boobs. It seemed to hurt more than it should have, she had been quite sensetive this morning and Tonks grabbing at her was unwelcome.

"What in the fuck are you doing?" Aero shouted, turning away, arms securely crossed and narrowing her eyes at the now bouncing Auror.

"Why didn't you tell me! You're supposed to tell me things like this!" She screamed and then she was squealing something unintelligable and Aero shrunk away, watching her wearily as if she might suddenly attack and Remus walked into the room with a whining Sirius on his heels.

"But Moony, just a stroll! A jont. A nip round the block!"

"No, Sirius! You're not convincing me to let you outside against Dumbledore's ord- what is going on in here?" Remus said, stopping by the stove to watch the scene.

Tonks was clapping her hands together, grinning from ear to ear and Aero had slunk down in her chair. Sirius was peering curiously at them both.

"I believe they're having a mental breakdown." he declared.

"No breakdowns, swear it." Tonks vowed.

"What is going on here then?" Remus asked.

Tonks threw Aero a shit-eating grin.

"Tonks has just lost every marble in her mind, that's all." Aero muttered.

Tonks stared at both Sirius and Remus with a smile before something clicked. She pointed an accussing finger at Remus.

"You knew! I bet you knew the whole time!" she cried, outraged.

Remus had a look of genuine shock on his face.

"Dare I ask what I supposedly knew this whole time, Tonks?"

"You knew she was pregnant!"

There was a moment of pause in the kitchen where Aero sat still as stone in her chair. Her hands gripped tightly at the arms and she snapped her head to glance over at Tonks, a strangely intense look in her eyes.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked harshly.

Tonks opened her mouth but paused, thrown off by the reaction.

"Well it's just...the signs, you know? I'm guessing you wouldn't be that far in. But...morning sickness, which you've been getting sick for a few weeks now thinking you had a chill, you've had cramping, I haven't seen you PMSing around the place like a violent spector for awhile, sensetive to the smell of eggs Remus makes in the morning, and well...Mads told me about your training session the other day."

"What training session? What happened?" Sirius asked immediately.

"Well, she was getting pretty tired, right? And Mad-eye was winning, and he said she looked awfully frustrated and then went to send a stinging hex or something at him and he ended up being thrown halfway across the room into the wall."

Remus chanced a glance at the little Black who continued to sit completely unmoving in her seat, her whole entire body was tensed as if expecting an attack and her eyes held a certain look in them that made his spine crawl forbodingly. His elbow nufged Sirius who quickly drew his eyes to his other cousin.

"Aero?"

Truly storming grey eyes stayed trained on the hard floor.

"Aer?"

"Aeroanna." Sirius snapped her name.

She blinked, though remained the same. Slowly she turned her head up and in a flash that made them all, besides Sirius, flinch back instinctively, she was standing and striding angrily towards the door.

"You're all fucking sick." she said in somewhat of a growl and slammed the door harshly behind her.

They all waited silently, barely breathing it seemed, as the sound of the loud slamming of the front door came to them and then the screaming of her Great Aunt Walburga. Sirius was quick to leave to the room, which Remus told himself he'd speak to him about later, and went to shut his mother up again. When there was silence once again and neither Black had yet returned to the kitchen, Remus concluded it was safe to sink into Aero's vacated chair.

Tonks glanced wearily at the door, face showing how disturbed she was by both her cousins' actions.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

Remus sighed and rubbed his face tiredly with his hand.

"They're Blacks. They're acting insane. It's in their genes."

Tonks rolled her eyes.

"So's it in mine! You don't see me storming out of the house like I just told her she was birthing a Hippogriff!"

"To her it might be exactly the same as if you were telling her she was Voldemort's long lost mother."

"Who gets that angry when they're pregnant? Wait...it is Fred's isn't it? Or is she sneaking around with that Vaine bloke, or the other boy, whats-his-name?"

Remus frowned.

"First of all, I'm assuming it would be Fred's child if she ever were to be pregnant, but how would I know?"

Tonks shrugged.

"She likes you. 'Uncle Remus' and all. Figured she might tell you."

"No more than she'd tell Sirius."

"Is that your arguement?"

Remus sighed again and for a moment Tonks thought all the air had finally vanished from his body.

"I can't explain everything about the Blacks, Tonks. Your family...all I can say is that they're a strange, complicated species and you are lucky to have had the advantage of having Andromeda for a mother and being raised away from this very madhouse we sit in."

Tonks leaned forward across the table intently.

"Surely you must understand her reaction, Remus!"

"You're closer to her, aren't you? All I can decipher from that scene a moment ago was that neither Black was too happy about the possibility of reproduction."

"But why? That's what I don't understand. I mean, Aero and Sirius, they're nothing like the people from the horror stories I've heard about this family. They're almost normal, though I hate to use the word. They're, for the most part, very sane and rational people. I went to school with Aero, and my mother tells me of all the stories about Sirius. I know them both, but I can't understand why she...why they both reacted like that. That was not sane, not to me. Sure, I mean maybe it's unplanned and unexpected but...she loves Fred, and Fred loves her and they're having a baby and they're financially stable...I don't understand."

Remus nodded. He knew a lot about Sirius, he spent all his teenage years with the man, from eleven to their early, very early twenties. He went through everything with him, along with Sirius and Peter. He went through the madness that was Sirius Black, hormonal, emotionally damaged, thrill seeking, rule-breaking, emotionally-stunted, loyal to the bone, witty and irritatingly intelligent Sirius Black. He remembered the day Sirius told him he was disowned and the day he imagined, through Aero, what had happened to him at the hands of his own family. He remeberd every rant from the long haired prankster back in school whenever he and his parents fought. He remembered every pain his friend had ever gone through. But he couldn't seem to fathom what was going on in his mind recently.

Remus was still puzzled by the fact that such a devestating and emotional fight had occurred between the two Blacks and yet neither one retaliated, neither one attacked the other or, from what he had seen, had lost their footing on sanity. He was well aware of what happened when Sirius was thrown off his emotional ground, when he was unstable and angry and not to mention drunk, and he knew Aero was equally as volatile as her second cousin, and had unfortunately inherited the Black gene of instability and unpredictabilty when it came to emotions. Yet the result of nothing happening between the two was astounding to him.

There was only one way to understand what was going on the minds of the Blacks at this point. Unfortunately, Remus considered this necessary now that he could no longer read them properly. That was, rather impossibly, to ask the source directly.

* * *

Aero ran a hand through her hair, storming into the loft and kicking the door shut behind her. She threw her jacket onto the chair and looked around for the twins. Not seeing them in the living room, she took a moment to try and calm herself. Her hands had a slightly, barely noticeable tremor to them but her heart seemed to be shaking as well. Pregnant? What a joke. A sick, twisted joke was all it was. She wasn't pregnant, she had some sort of bug, that was all. Tonks was making something out of nothing. She just needed something interesting in her life. It was pathetic.

She sighed, irritated. Where was Fred? Maybe a good shag would be theraputic for her instead of hexing everyone she laid eyes on like she wanted. She saw the closed bedroom door and headed towards it, throwing it open and it slammed against the wall with a thud, making Fred, who was hunched over one side of the bed with his back towards her, jump violently.

He turned his head quickly to look at her and she saw his eyes widen slightly before he twisted hurriedly to face her, hands behind his back.

"Tough day, love?" he asked.

"My whole family is full of idiots." she muttered.

Fred frowned sympathetically.

"Maybe Perce would get along with them then."

Aero snorted, shaking her head. Her family was full of more than just idiots. Exactly why she wasn't pregnant. With one last frustrated hand through her hair she jumped onto the bed, kneeling in front of him . She placed her hands on his legs for balance and he smirked up at her and she focused soley on the mischivous look in his blue eyes before pushing their lips together forcefully. Fred tilted his head to meet hers and leaned back, slowly moving closer to laying down and his arm moved back, hand under the pillow. The muffled sound of something crinkling made Aero frown and open her eyes. Her hand went up to hold his chin still and she sat back up from where she was straddling him.

"What's that?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

Fred glanced at the pillow.

"Nothing. It was just something I was looking over when you came in. Since I'm too busy to continue reading it, figured I'd put it away until later." he said with a shrug.

Aero frowned.

"Well what was it? That you were reading?"

"Nothing of any importance, I swear." he said before sitting up and trying to kiss her again.

She turned her head away and he kissed her cheek instead and she reached around him, shoving her hand under his pillow and taking out a crumpled bit of parchment. She stared curiously at him. His eyes were glued to the paper in her hands. He reached for it quickly but she pulled away.

"Love, it's not important, really."

"Well then let me see it."

"You don't need to see it."

Aero stood from the bed, backing away from his outstretched hand.

"I wanna see it."

"It's not yours." he said hastily.

"Why do you want this so bad?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"Because it's not something you should be reading."

"What is it, Fred?" she asked again.

"Business." he snapped, reaching for it again.

She turned quickly out of reach and spun out the door, reaching into her boot and waving her wand at the door. She heard Fred bang on the door before he thudded away and she knew he was looking for his wand. She hurriedly opened the parchment that was making him so insistent and scanned the hand-written words, her fingers tightening around the parchment to much that one index actually made a hole through it. Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned angrily as her jaw stiffened. Fred then managed to unspell the door and threw it open, a panicked look in his eyes.

"Aero, love, it's not -"

His head twisted to the side, eyes wide as he stumbled backwards into the wall, hand holding his face. He looked up to see Aero grabbing her coat off the chair and the letter on the floor.

Aero, fuming so that her eyes unknowingly were a solid black like her hair, almost ran down the stairs into the shop, roughly bumpbing shoulders with a suprised George.

"Aero what are you doing here?"

The front door opened and Aero barely noticed that a hooded Xoe had stepped in with a large grin on her face that quickly faded to confusion as Aero ignored them both and headed for the door. The loft door above them opened and Fred thundered down the stairs.

"Aero wait!" he demanded.

Aero scoffed harshly as she reached the door.

"Why don't you go conduct some _business_, Weasley."

Xoe watched the door crash shut and for a moment she feared the windows would shatter at the force. George was staring up at Fred in concern.

"Fred-" he began before Fred was down the stairs and out the door into Diagon Alley.

The two glanced at each other, unsure of what had happened and what to do now.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." George commented.

"It certainly was." she agreed.

There was a sort of awkward pause before they met eachother's eyes and broke into grins, each giving a small, light laugh.

"So glad you could make it." George told her.

Xoe stepped forward, smiling.

"As am I, George."

* * *

She watched with some sort of strange satisfaction; his eyes filled with tears and she screamed soundlessly, the veins in her neck portruding violently with her mouth widening helplessly. That's what they were, really. Helpless little creatures in this dark, rodent infested world. They say yo ucan see the truth of a person, who they really are, in their last dying moments. She figured it had to be true, because even dying, taking in their last breaths, the cowardice shined so brightly in their eyes as they gaped at her. Cowards, the whole rotten lot of them.

She watched, face blank and void of emotion. All she really felt at the moment was a sort of satisfaction, a sense of control. Figures this would be the one place she had any kind of control. She couldn't control her life, any aspect of it, nor could she control her dreams. Nightmares, honestly. The same faces haunted her behind her eyelids, powerless to fight them. It was like ehr subconcious wanted her to fall to them. Her own mind seemed to be telling her it was a pointless battle. A battle she wouldnt win but refused to give up. What did that say about her? She was stubborn. Stubborn to the death.

Battling seemed to be all she did lately. For years, all she did was fight. Fight and ultimately lose, in some way or another. Just when she thought it was safe, she'd lose. That was her problem. She let her guard down and that allowed things to come in. Bad things. Bad things like anger and dissapointment and hurt and betrayal and regret. The good never stayed long. Bad was such a bully, it punched good out and then presumed to circle around her life like a personal thunder cloud. It just never stopped. She could fight all she wanted, she could put up a fight, be stubborn, come up swinging, but it wouldn't make a difference. Bad things would always happen and she had been stupid to trust. Stupid to trust anyone.

_...Unresolved feelings...we need to talk...when can I see you again?...don't tell her...I need to see you again...our little secret... _

She pursed her lips, hard eyes watching as this time, the pathetic little man choked on his own blood, struggling to breathe through the thickness of the crimson that ran down his face and dripped onto the pavement. She woman was jerking around beside him, eyes rolling back into her head before she raised the man's wand and slammed her against the pavement, hearing a satisfying crunch as her head landed. After a moment she carefully placed the wands in their respective, cooling, hands and pulled out a cigarette, staring down at them.

"Rough day?"

She turned her head barely to look at the far opening of the alley way outside the tavern. It was darkening into night already and the alley reaked of whiskey and sex and currently, blood. She kicked absently at an empty bottle with the toe of her boot while he walked towards her, hands casually in his pockets, curiously surveying her latest work.

"Personal vendetta?" he wondered.

She shrugged her shoulders, taking the stick from her mouth and passing it to him silently. He took a drag so long she figured he'd take the whole thing down to a butt in one fell swoop. He tossed some hair out of his eyes as he passed it back to her, letting her take a slightly smaller drag, before they both locked eyes and released at the same time, watching their smoke twine together in the air and fade away.

"You are a bit messier this time. I must say, I'm rather proud of you for this one myself."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I've been following you."

She glanced at him, mouth set in a dissintereted frown. He cocked his head to the side, hair falling in his eyes again and gave her a wicked grin.

"Is that immoral of me?"

"I'm unsure if any privacy laws were infact broken." she replied.

His grin widened a fraction and a glint appeared in his eyes. She couldn't distinguish the emotions there very clearly like most people, for she'd already written him off when she was young as a closed and locked book, but she could see the gleam in his eyes was definately something akin to dangerous, curiousity and for a moment she thought she detected a strange appearance of pride. She turned slightly to kick a bottle into the pool of blood and his eyes found her lower back. _S.O.B_

"Nice tattoo. Didn't know you let people mark you."

"Happens to be the initials for Son ofa Bitch, though I see how one could confuse it with Sirius Orion Black, they are both quite similar really."

He shook his head, still grinning.

"I faily to see what would motivate you to tail me, though. I suppose it really doesn't matter either way."

"If you're wondering if I'm going to squeal on you like a little pig, I have no such intention. I'm simply trailing to...observe."

"Your sudden interest in me is, I admit, puzzling."

"You're interesting and I'm a puzzling sort of person."

"Is that a fact?"

"Quite. That and like I've stated before, I have a certain personal interest in you."

"Which you never told me what it was."

"Well that, my dear, is a secret. If you want to know, you'll have to play the game." he told her, leaning forward, a wicked gleam returning in his eyes.

She studied him carefully though he did manage to peak her interest.

"Play the game?"

He bounced back onto his heels, like she was playing along.

"Play the game. Just like I did. Play the game, the game of one's true identity."

"And what, pray tell, am I supposed to find?"

He turned to walk away and glanced over his shoulder at her, a playful grin on his face as he dodged her question.

"Beware, Aeroanna, for this game we play is as dangerous as it is necessary."


	50. Chapter 50 Comes and Goes

**Joseph Kony 2012 or no? **

* * *

This ones for the lonely, the ones that seek and find,

Only to be let down, time after time.

This ones for the torn down, the experts at the fall,

Come one friends get up now, you're not alone at all.

And this part was for her, and this part was for her, and this part was for her, does she remember?

This ones for the faithless, the one who aren't suprised,

They're only where they are now, regardless of their fight.

This one's for believing, if only while it's safe.

And this part was for her, does she remember?

It comes and goes in waves...and makes me wonder why I try.

**Greg Laswell** - _Comes and Goes (in Waves)_

* * *

"We need to talk."

The coat hit the couch and the shoes thudded against the wall by the door and the sound of stocking feet on the floor played. The kitchen cabinet door was snapped open and nimble fingers wrapped themselves tightly around the neck of a cold bottle and a glass was pried from the top shelf. Hands restlessly tapped thighs and feet shifted anxiously. Amber liqued fell into a clear glass as it reflected the lights from the streetlamps that peeked through the window between the crooked shades and gave the room a dim, yellow glow. The cap was screwed back on and then a glass was shot down the counter and rested at a comfortable stop just near the edge. The other was grasped loosely between ringed fingers with chipping black nail polish and lifted towards a pair of lips.

An eyebrow was lifted in reply, sarcastic and mocking.

"You want to talk. _Talk_."

A stricken silence followed suit.

"I need you to listen to me when I do."

A tiny curve appeared at the end of one side of the lips, though it gave anything but comfort.

"I don't need to do anything."

A shallow, forced breath was taken from the otherside of the room.

"We need to talk about this."

"You've been talking about this, I believe. Just not with me."

A pained sighed came from the shadows of the room.

"Please, try to understand. It was just a letter."

"Just one?"

"We've been...corresponding, I admit."

"Does he know?"

"No. You both weren't meant to be privy to any of this."

"You do realize this talking is a favor I'm doing to you, correct?"

"We'd have to talk about this at some point."

"See, I disagree. I'm perfectly happy with not talking about it."

"How can you even say that?"

"You can dress it up anyway you please, but you can't change the writing on the wall, so to speak."

"You don't understand what you read. It wasn't like that."

"Interestingly enough, I'm not interested."

"Look, I know you thought I shagged her once, but I didn't."

"That's not what's running through my head right now."

The glass glided itself back to her lips and eyes stormed as they held him in place and reminded him of an impending hurricane.

"It's nothing. We were just writing to one another. I'm allowed to have friends, aren't I?"

Eyes narrowed.

"Don't turn this whole thing around on me."

"I told you not to read the letter. If you had left it alone, you wouldn't know."

"'What she doesn't know won't hurt her', right? 'Ignorance is bliss'? Ignorance is foolish. And what _she_ doesn't know will hurt _him_."

"Don't make this seed into an apple, now! Nothing happened."

"Am I supposed to just take your word on that? Your _solemn vow_ that nothing is going on between you both? Excuse the fuck out of me if I can't take you at face value anymore."

"Oh please, you've never taken anyone at face value. You can't trust anyone!"

A sharp, spiteful laugh pierced through his mocking snap.

"I don't believe I was the one who started out this trust-battle!"

"You had a man, who was clearly interested in you, living around your house!"

"So you thought the best solution was to follow me on that blasted map, and when that wasn't enough, you decided you'd better shag my roommate?"

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Trust me!"

"Like you're trusting me?"

A flash of movement and then the glass was on the floor beside a pair of feet with mis-matched stockings and the amber liqued pooled like a puddle of blood that had just been spilt.

"I did trust you." It was hoarse when it snuck between the lips, just barely quivering with whatever emotion was arousing it.

"I trusted you to trust me, I trusted you not to break me, I trusted you not to try and hurt me. I trusted you. It's not my fault you couldn't be worthy of it."

The mis-matched feet padded across the floor with little thuds and grasped tightly at the glass by the counter edge and rushed it to his lips, letting it run down his throat full speed ahead. Another pair of feet quickly moved further away, to lean against the opposite counter.

"Where have you been going?"

A slight pause, startled.

"Going?"

"Going, when you're not with Selena, when you're not training or sleeping. Where?"

"Out. Around. Taking walks."

"Walks?"

A scoffing sound, harsh in the air.

"Bars. Bars, you twat. Taverns, bars, pubs. I don't see how it's any of your business."

"Have you noticed how much you've been drinking?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

There was a heavy, exhausted sigh.

"I feel like we're losing it."

Another stricken silence, the second that night. The clock above the stove ticked and the faucet dripped and someone argued with a begger down on the street under the window.

"What if we've already lost it?"

A sort of funny little choked sound crept involuntarily out of his throat and he glanced sharply at the floor, studying the scratches in the wood. A mantra in his mind; _do not cry, do not fall, do not lose it now._

"Then we have to get it back."

"How? If we don't know when we lost it."

A deep breath.

"Are you willing to let go of everything?"

A thoughtful pause.

"It can't go on like this." A statement.

"How do I fix it?"

"That's the problem, isn't it?"

"There's quite a few of them."

"Can you fix something with so many problems?"

"What's our main one?"

"I can't trust you."

"I feel like I don't know who you are anymore."

"You don't."

"And maybe you can't."

Gazes met sullenly across the small room and suddenly it felt like more than just the round kitchen table was between them. They stood for an unknown amount of time, though it felt like they were witnessing an eternity pass.

Rings danced in the yellow glow as a hand hesitantly swept down and, light as air, traced the contours of a flat abdoman and then clutched the fabric of the thin shirt.

"So what are we saying?"

They met eyes again across the room and for a moment there was almost a tragic sense of poetry between them again. The star-crossed lovers, always destined to fail in some miserable way. Eyes blue as raindrops and eyes as grey as storm clouds, locked together in some silent, emotional conversation. The storm gave way first.

"I think...we need time."

"Time?"

"Yes. We need...to breathe. To breathe on our own for a bit, until we can...find our way back?"

"You want to break-up?"

"No. Not yet, anyways. I think we can just, agree to give each other some space. See how things work out."

"We still have to fix this though."

"What's to fix? I can't get over the fact you were with Angelina, that you hid her from me a second time. I can't forget that, I don't even know if I can forgive that. How many times will I have to wonder if you've got a letter from her, or if everytime you leave through that door it's to meet her? I know I can't live like that. But you don't even know me anymore. Or so you feel. And there are things you don't know, things I can't and won't tell you. We can't trust each other."

"So...what exactly happens now?"

A silent breath was released and they waited a painful heartbeat.

"We're not in school anymore, Freds. This is reality, outside the protective walls. Things have happened, and we weren't prepared to deal. You've got your family issues that are killing you every second, with your mother and your brother, anyone with eyes can see it on your face. You're so family-oriented that something like this, especially a riff with your own mother, destroys you. You're facing reality now. My friends have already started dying, I've become a too-young, too-inexperienced guardian for a traumatized little girl, I've lost my job while you're trying to start one and we've both dropped out of school and my nightmares are back because my parents are out in the open now. We're about to head into war. _This_ is our reality, and until we can find ourselves again, we can't find each other."

There was a heavy sadness in the air between them and he looked up at her again, his eyes glistening in the light and he offered a half smile.

"I feel like this is a good-bye."

She shook her head, pursing her lips slightly to hide their quivering.

"It's not a good-bye, more like a 'I'll see you when I get back' kind of thing."

"Not forever?" Clarification.

"We've still got forever."

* * *

The room was dark but the glow of the night shown through the window, the drapery pulled back on one side and a shadowed figure stood there, outlined in the night, looking out over the long drop from their sheltered perch. A golden light chose that moment to spread across the room, growning and growing on the carpeted ground until it was just barely in reach, so close to reaching the shadowed man.

"Are you going to spend the rest of the night in the dark?"

The voice was calm and collected, but seemed to be tentatively reaching the man's ears, as if hesitant or testing its own footing.

"Why not?" came the reply from the dark.

"Because this cannot be healthy." the golden man spoke casually.

"What does health matter now? It's not as if I have some great thing to do, and cannot perrish at some unhealthy thought or action."

A weathered sigh from the door and the golden shadow sagged tiredly against the doorframe.

"You understand why we cannot let you help, Pads." he reminded him.

He knew, certainly he did. He knew he was a liability, if he were to so much as stick his nose out into the fresh air. He understood the closest he'd get to fresh air was whenever he opened up a dusty window in the house that he had felt trapt in for so long before now. He understood life was a vicious cycle, sticking him in this hole to create horrifying memories and the rescue him from it, only to send him back and make him relive them. He understood he was useless and unnecessary now, as he was old and unstable like the rest of his heritage, and no longer had any place or business here. He understood perfectly.

"Whatever you say."

"Sirius, please. It's only temporary."

"Is that what they tell you?"

"You just have to be patient and wait a little lon-"

"How long?" he demanded suddenly.

Amber eyes widened at the unexpected exclamation.

"How long what?" he asked wearily.

The figure in the dark spun on their heels and faced him, glittering crystal glass in his continually paling hand. Eyes that looked like a swirling and disatrous grey tornado latched onto his with intensity and mockery that chilled his spine.

"How long do I have to wait? How long do I have to be patient? I've waited twelve years, alone in the dark like I am now! Twelve years of dark, brooding and maddening solitude, locked away to rot! Just like you expect me to quietly do now! The only difference is this place has more dust."

"Sirius, we're not trying to lock you up! We're trying to protect you until it's safe!"

"Protect me? Tell me, Remus ol' buddy, how exactly are you protecting me? Is this your idea of it, then, me up here, drinking myself into stupors every other night, watching everyone else do what I used to do? This is not protecting me, it's making me lose my damned mind!" he shouted, outraged.

The man stepped forward from the golden hue of the hall, his eyes were pleading.

"Sirius, please try to understand why I have to do this! If you step foot into the outside world right now, you'll get your soul sucked out! Everything that is you will be taken away forever and you won't feel any better than you do now. Please, Sirius, just be patient."

The man scoffed and poured his drink down his long throat, feeling it try and bring life back to his numb vessel.

"Might as well suck the blasted thing out, Remus, it's not doing me any favors by being here."

"Well then let me be selfish." his friend snapped, which caused the raging man to stop and stare with squinted eyes at him, trying to see where his calm and sensible friend had disapeared to in such a hurry.

"Let me be selfish, for once in my life, damn it. Let me play the selfish bastard. Sirius Black, I will be selfish with you. I will not let you walk out that door, never to come back again. I will not watch the light I know is still there fade from those eyes. I will not let you throw everything away. I will not lose you. Do you understand. I won't."

"Remus you can't just tell me what to-"

"I can, because from here on out, I'm the selfish one in this friendship. You may be some big, brooding mess right now, but I won't let you get out of this so easily. You will keep that stupid bloody soul of yours even if it kills you. It can wake you up every night, screaming, and I may have to wake up with you, and it might make you drink yourself until you don't know your own name but no matter how much you drink, I will always be here to remember it. Sirius Orion Black. I will always remember it. Just like I remember Peter Patrick Pettigrew and James Harold Potter and Lily Rosalie Evans!" he shouted until his voice cracked.

Sirius blinked several times, his heart thudding annoyingly in his own ears at their names.

Remus staggered a painful step, his eyes pinning Sirius in place.

"I will be selfish with you, because you are all I have left and whether you believe it or not, I cherish every brooding moment you have on this earth because you and I are the only ones left. Peter is gone in the darkness of this world, and James and Lily were stolen. But we are here still, remembering their names, because no matter how long they're gone, or where they go, it won't change it. Just like no matter what you do, I will be here to remember. I will be selfish with you, Padfoot, because I can't lose you like I lost them. I won't. Because I won't be able to take it..."

At this point a choked noise escaped his lips and tumbled into the room and it was like shattering glass. The glass that had separated them since they had believed each other was guilty of the very thing that destroyed their lives, the glass that was there between them when he had gotten out and wasn't the best friend he needed all those years anymore. That glass, that fragile barrier waiting for them, had shattered the moment Remus finally, after all these years, cried.

Sirius, stepping through the unseen broken shards, placed his glass clumsily on the ground and firmly grasped his trembling friend's shoulders, looking him hard in his pained eyes before drawing him near, both their arms circling each other tightly, so tightly that neither could suddenly be ripped away. Remus shuddered and his chest tightened and he hid his prematurely aged face into Sirius' neck like a small child, his tears dripping down the too-exposed collar-bone of his best friend. Sirius in return brought them to their knees on the ground and held his friend tightly, like he should have been there to do when they lost their friends, like Remus should have been there to do when his little brother died. But it was being done now, and that fact seemed to, for now, be enough for the both of them.

* * *

"Where in the name of Merlin are those papers?" he muttered, frustratedly pushing things aside under his bed.

"I need them, they're the damn mailing list." he grunted, slamming his hands down on the floor.

The room was slightly messier then when he had entered. He wondered if Aero would whack him later, since she was the one who wanted it clean in the first place. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, which now that he thought about it, needed a trim. But his mother generally did that for them...his mother whom he had made cry, his mother whom he currently wasn't on speaking terms with.

He sat back on his folded legs and surveyed the room. Perhaps it was on Fred's side. He bounded over to the bed, looking through the various objects hidden underneath, but found no luck on his side. He quickly went to get up but over-balanced and wobbled sideways, knocking over a glass of water onto the pillow and sheets. He swore colorfully under his breath, and picked up the pillow but his hand stopped in mid-air as he peered curiously at the neatly folded papers there.

His eyes shifted to look at the closed door and then set the pillow down, snatching the parchments easily and sitting down on his brother's bed, unfolding them to see exactly what was written there. A tug went to his heart, his eyes scanning over the familiar hand-writing; the messy and hurried scrawl, as if she had something important to get to but still took the time to write you. He took a breath and his eyes moved down the sheet, moving onto the next one and the next one.

She had written him. She had written Fred, not George. Sure, he hadn't been very responsive while they were still in school after what happened, but he figured she'd be begging him to forgive her like Fred did with Aero. Fred had knocked on Aero's door every day, he pleaded and begged and groveled until she took him back. Angelina had apologized for hurting him on several occassions, crying on many of them, and it killed him, partly, to see her so upset just because she had hurt him. But it felt nice, knowing she cared that much about how she made him feel. For the longest time, he had serial dated while his twin had found some great, star-crossed love. He had watched his brother fall in this complicated, passionate love for years and he couldn't help but envy him.

He had hoped, for a second, that Angelina, strong, independent, confident and competetive Angelina Johnson, could be his own love story. From friends to lovers. She had her faults, sure. She was overly competetive about everything, she was intense about it. She spoke without thinking and could sometimes be a little single-minded and lose sight of other priorities. But she was strong, and had a fighting spirit in her and she never gave up and wasn't afraid to fight for what she wanted. He had just hoped that what she wanted to fight for was him, not Fred.

He set the letters down on the bed, staring blankly at the floor. He felt light-headed. Fred was with Aero and things were good. Angelina was writing to Fred, saying that things between them had never gotten 'closure' and they should try and work this out. That they had been more than just a simple fling, a rebound for him. George couldn't help but scoff a little bitterly.

Angelina didn't sound _strong_ in this. She sounded like a weak, pathetic little home-wrecker who couldn't take no for an answer. She didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact that Aero used to be her best friend. It was like Aero and him didn't exist in the world of Angelina and his brother. And thinking that, he couldn't believe he had ever thought she was attractive.

He reached for the drawer then, searching for a parchment and scribbled a hasty note on it. Finding the business owl they had in the living room, George tied the letter to it and sent it off through the window, watching it fly off. He moved to the kitchen, finding Aero's stash of liquor and pouring himself a decent glass, taking a sip and feeling it burn as it went down his throat. He sighed.

Angelina Johnson was no longer a priority of his. She made her choice, clearly, and it was time he made his. The knocking on the door fifteen minutes later steeled it within himself and he smiled despite himself. He twisted the doorknob and heels clicked on the floor as Xoe Stict, in all her unusual beauty, stepped into his loft.

She smiled something radiant at him and he felt his pulse quicken. Yes, this was definitely his choice.

"Hello, love." he greeted warmly with a grin.

She wet her lips and smiled again.

"Hello yourself, George. What brings such a spontaneous call?" she asked.

George shrugged easily.

"Can't I just want to see you?"

"I suppose. It would definitely be a welcome reason."

"No ones home."

She raised an eyebrow at this.

"We're the only ones in the loft?"

George grinned.

"For quite some time, I'm afraid."

"Well, what do you suppose we should do to occupy ourselves then?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things."

"Only a few?"

* * *

Her hands fell into the sink, the soapy water surrounding them as she reached for a dish. Her chest fell as she sighed, eyes downcast and weary and her movements were slow and melancholy. Her hair was tied up in a messy, tangled red run and an apron hung around her increasingly thinning waist. She scrubbed at the egg that was staining the plate from breakfast until she could see her own sad reflection looking back at her.

She shuddered when a pair of warm arms encircled her, pulling her back against their chest and resting their chin on her significantly shorter shoulder. Stubble tickled her face and breath danced across her skin. She continued scrubbing the dish before placing it on the toweled counter and reaching for a new one.

"Molly, why don't you take a break, you look exhausted."

She merely shook her head, pushing the wet and bubbled cloth to the dish.

His sigh echoed in her ear and she twitched a frown.

"Shouldn't you be at work, dear?" she asked idly, trying to put some casual cheer in her voice.

"I already did, my love." he replied quietly.

She blinked and furrowed her brows down at the sink. "Oh."

His arms tightened.

"Mollywobbles, my love, you're tiring yourself to the core these days. Please, just go lay down."

"I can't when there's so much work to be done, Arthur. The laundry has to be done, the dishes still aren't washed, the floor has to be swept and the banister on the top floor is looking particularly dusty, these days. I swept my hand down it just this morning and you wouldn't believe the amount of dust."

"Molly..."

"It really was disgusting, Arthur. Honestly, how I let things get this bad around here is a mystery to me."

Arthur was quiet for a moment.

"It's not your fault."

"Well whose is it then? I really should've dusted sooner."

"You had no idea it would turn out like this."

"That's no excuse. I should have stayed on top of this. This whole hell will go to the dogs if I'm not careful."

"They'll come around."

"Who Arthur, the dust mites? What a thing to say, dear."

Arthur placed his hands firmly on her hips and turned her to face him, blue plate in hand. Her eyes were on the ground and he gently nudged her chin up with a finger until she met his soft gaze.

"Molly, everything will be alright." he assurred her.

Her eyes watered but she remained unchanged.

"How? How can you say that when three of our children aren't speaking to me and two of them are signing up to have their lives put on the line, with the others sure to follow close behind? How can you say that you almost died! You almost died Arthur and Percy never even...he never even came to visit." she said, her bottom lip giving a slight and momentary tremor at the end.

Arthur set his hands gently on her shoulders and slid them soothingly down her arms to come to rest at her elbows.

"Because you are their mother, Molly. You are their mother and no matter how much they kick and scream and no matter how many tantrums they throw, they can't ignore that fact. You are their mother, the one who knew each of their favorite breakfasts and made it every morning for seventeen years each without fail so that it'd be waiting when they woke up. You're the one who knew what they'd forget to pack for school before they even forgot it. You're the one they went to when they cried and the one who protected them when they got hurt."

Molly glanced at the floor again, fiddling with the plate with trembling fingers.

"When Fred and George teased Ron, who did he run to? When Fred and George angered the woman down the road who belted them with a broom, who gave her a piece of their mind for daring to touch her children? When Charlie fell off his broom during the summer and swore he'd never fly again, who convinced him to go out for Quidditch? When Bill had his heart broken in the fifth year by...what's her name, and moped around his dorm for weeks, who told him it was her loss and he'd find someone worthy enough to claim his heart? Or when little Ginny was told she couldn't play with her brothers because she was a girl, who told her that didn't mean she was weaker and that she needed to stand up for herself? Or even when Percy failed his first test and he was depressed because he thought his professors would think he was incompetent and not worth their time, who told him that he was worth every precious second of every day?"

Molly felt a tear run down her cheek and Arthur's thumb brushed it away. He turned her head up to look at him.

"You don't just forget things like that, Molly. You're their mother, the most important person in their worlds. And even when they go far away, like to Egypt or Romania, or try to find their own paths without the family, or decide they want to take their mother's wise words and stand up for themselves and the people they love and for those who can't protect themselves, you will always be there mother. You will always be there with open arms and a warm breakfast and a kind, understand smile at the end of the day and they know that and that's what counts. That, my dear Mollywobbles, is how I know it's going to be okay. We've taught our children well, and now they need to make their own choices, and we have to let them. But that doesn't mean we turn our backs, or close our eyes and it doesn't mean we're going anywhere. We're right here, right where we've always been."

Molly gave a hiccup and Arthur brought her to his chest, the plate soaking through his shirt. He rested his chin on top of her head and rubbed her back.

"It's just so hard!" she said, muffled by his shirt.

"I know."

"And it hurts so much!" she wailed.

"I know. But we're their parents, and we can take it, for their sake, because right now, that's all we can do."


	51. Chapter 51 Until we bleed

**Is anyone still actually reading this story? I know it's short, the next one, update soon I swear, will be longer and better.**

* * *

I'm naked, I'm numb,

I'm stupid, I'm staying

Lights black, heads bang

You're my drug, we live it

You're drunk, you need it, real love, I'll give it

So we're bound to linger on, we drink the fatal drop

Then love until we bleed, then fall apart in parts

Doors slam, lights black, you're gone, come back

I need you, to need me

**Lykke Li** - _Until we bleed _

* * *

It had lasted about a full week and a half before Aero was wrapped under the covers like she was in a cacoon, his chest against her back, radiating a heat she couldn't seem to gravitate away from. His arm was thrown casually over her waist, but his grip was tight, like he was afraid she'd leave during the middle of the night. Truthfully, she'd only done it once since they'd started again. Not that the thought hadn't occurred more often than not.

She couldn't fathom how everything had happened in the first place. They'd been so resigned to taking a break, time apart. If they were honest with themselves, it was probably the healthy choice, the logical and rational choice, but then again it was a Weasley-Black relationship so normal coupling rules tended not to apply, the relationship was complicated enough without adding a rule book.

But that didn't mean things were okay. They weren't alright in the slightest, not in any sense of the word. There was that ugly elephant taking up all the oxygen in the room most of the time, practically jumping up an down to try and their attentions, but they valiantly ignored it. They had to, or at least that's what they told themselves. They weren't so different in that thinking.

Aero knew the relationship was bordering on unhealthy, surely it had to be, because staying in a relationship with such an obvious lack of trust couldn't be healthy for anyone's sanity. It certainly wasn't healthy for hers. In fact, Aero quite felt like she was losing hers. Really, seriously losing her sanity, like she could practically feel it slipping through her fingers with each passing hour. And if she thought about it, which she was out right refusing to do, she could list a few things that should've posed as warnings signs to go and get help.

Like, becoming somewhat of a serial killer. That was a little surreal to her, honestly, she didn't know where it came from. It was just...like it was a natural reaction to what was going on in her head, a means to an end, and in her somewhat mentally lacking state, it all made perfect sense. When she stopped to think about it, she couldn't understand _exactly_ her reasoning, but whatever. That never stopped her from going back out. Maybe it was a control thing. She was skilled with a wand, she always had been, so she found herself having little trouble with her opponents. She refused to call them victims, they were anything but innocent. She had control there, wheareas she certainly had no control over her own life at the moment.

Maybe it was the several times she had apparrently had a mental breach, like in the loo at school when Katie found her. Or perhaps the fact that she was drinking more than normal. Or her nagging thought of just running, just hitting the ground and bolting away from it all every time she saw a door.

_She was suffocating. _

Maybe her lack of eating. She ate, obviously she didn't have some sort of disorder, but she had lost a few pounds recently she noticed, as her collar bone jutted out a bit more and her pants were looser, though sometimes she thought she had gained a few pounds back, because while her legs and arms lost weight, her stomach didn't. She didn't eat much anymore, she was jittery and fidgetty and she had these insane cravings but the thought of actually putting anything in her mouth made her ill. She was getting sick quite often now which left her shaking and trembling afterwards for the rest of the day.

_She was sick. _

Maybe it was the lack of sleeping. Even then, as she laid with Fred, she was wide awake as he dozed peacefully behind her. She slept maybe every other night for about three hours total before waking up. Her eyes burned with tiredness, and she sometimes felt her mind wander off during Order meetings without her permission.

_She was exhausted._

Or maybe, it was the dreams. The intense, violent, morbid, gorey dreams that haunted her when she closed off her mind. When she sank into herself at night and everything went dark and cold and she could see nothing but hear screaming, terrified, pain-filled, panic-stricken screaming and something of an infant's wail underneath it all. Then blood, dark and warm, was all over her, coating her hands and down a white dress she wore and she was screaming, screaming for help. But no one came. No one ever came. And the wailing grew louder and louder until it consumed her and throbbed through her chest and then a madman's cackle, her mother, right in her ears, cold and lethal fingers curling tightly around her throat as she cried and screamed and the infant wailed somewhere in the distance and she couldn't get to it or see it and her mother's laugh, cold and sadistic, chilling her bones and raising the hair on the back of her neck and then she'd be awake, gasping and panting and covered in sweat with her chest heaving and her eyes wide and her limbs trembling and salty tears coming down her cheeks and dripping onto her pillow. And Fred was none the wiser as he slept.

_She was scared. _

She was losing her mind and losing track of time. She literally would have these blackouts, where she'd apparrently have a conversation or do something and she wouldn't remember it. She was falling, falling down a very black hole and no one seemed to notice.

She was terrified.

* * *

"I want to go out. I'll lose my mind if I don't."

She sipped absently at her drink, feeling the ice hit her lips and the liqued warm her chest.

"Who says you haven't already?"

He played idly with the rings on his fingers. He glanced up at her, slightly affronted but otherwise her comment fell on deaf ears.

"I don't know why you're so..._you_ right now, you get to do whatever you want."

"If that were true, would I really be hiding out with you and a giant molting bird right now?"

Buckbeak clucked his beak at her and snorted, blowing strands of her hair into her face.

"I think he's offended."

"He's a bird."

"He's exceptional company. Great conversationalist."

"As I said before, who says you haven't lost your mind already?"

He snorted at her this time, cracking his back.

"I haven't. If I had this would be a much more interesting conversation for you."

"You're making a fan out of fallen feathers." she commented.

"Well, it's getting hot."

"Sirius."

"Don't 'Sirius' me. You sound like Remus. It's creepy."

She rolled her eyes, tilting her glass around in a circle, listening to the ice clink against it.

"Why are you hiding out here, if I dare ask."

She sighed, a hum in her throat.

"Because I get scolded at for drinking out there. I get scolded for smoking too. I'm not in the mood to have Tonks lecture me. I mean...it's _Tonks_." she said with an amused snort.

He grinned and then looked at her somewhat intently.

"Remus' has been asking me all sorts of questions lately. Like about you and...what happened."

"Well Remus can fuck off."

"Easy, tiger."

"It nobody's business, what goes on with me."

"I know that, don't get snarky with me."

There was a moment of utter silence before a nervous laugh bubbled in her throat.

"I mean, really, though. Pregnant? I am not pregnant. There's no way. I mean, can you imagine..."

He hummed, a sort of melancholy sound, in his chest.

"We really should stop reproducing, shouldn't we?" he murmured.

"We never should have started." she muttered.

"I mean, none of us have good track records with our parents, right? Chances are they didn't either. It's a vicious cycle of bad people coming from even worse parents. It's practically a genetic disorder."

"Which is why I could never be pregnant, not in a million years. It's bad enough I could possibly ruin my godchild, let alone actually bring another Black into this disaster."

"That'd be scary, I admit. Maybe you could handle it, though."

"Yeah right. Handle a kid? I can barely handle myself, Sirius. I don't even know what to do with Selena, I'm not maternal. If anyone could be a parent, it'd be Fred, and since he's with me...not going to happen." she said, shaking her head.

She paused and glanced at his sullen expression.

"Have you ever wanted a...?"

"A little runt of my own? I thought I did, once...but it didn't work out."

"Didn't work out?"

"Kid wasn't mine, I guess. So, I didn't have to deal with the thought of screwing up some kid."

She frowned and stared at the floor intensely.

"Do you think...what if Fred wanted a kid one day? What if he actually wanted to be a dad...?"

"Well, then it would depend on if you wanted to be a mum."

"And when I tell him I don't?"

"Then he's out of luck, isn't he? He'll have to settle for watching you and his big brother parent Selena, won't he?"

* * *

Charlie sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. His boss back at the center in Romania was up his arse about him leaving work so much.

'While I'm sympathetic to your situation, Weasley, the kid isn't my concern.'

He shook his head, flipping a pancake over on the pan. Selena was a little moody today, scowling repeatedly and occassionally giving foot stomps and was completely adamant about having pancakes for lunch today. He tried messaging Aero, maybe to ask her for a little assisstance, because Selena wasn't very _precious_ today but she hadn't replied. But that was alright, because Aero handled Selena most of the time anyways at Grimmauld Place. Today, it was him and Selena in Romania, his weekend with her. He could handle it. He _should_ handle this, he didn't need to ask for an eighteen year old's parenting advice for his own goddaughter.

Selena sat at the table, arms crossed and pouting adorably, a stern expression on her face as her little legs kicked, far away from the ground. Her hair was starting to straighten out some, not by much really, but her ringlets that were nuturally tight as hell and a pain to brush, had seemed to straighten, just a smidge. Her hair was still golden, like the sun was constantly shining down on it, like her mother's. Her eyes, completely her dad's, were still a jade coloring and currently very grumpy, watching him intently.

Honestly, Selena was a great kid. She was generally very happy, very excited about...well life in general, and bouncing around the house. She didn't cry very often, which her godparents were thankful for, because the month or so after her parents died she cried like crazy everytime she woke up and her parents weren't there and it drove Aero and Charlie mad with grief, listening to her. She was usually very happy, not crying. She was constantly arguing though. If she didn't want to do something, it nearly killed you trying to convince her to do it anyways. She was small, but set in her ways. She was completely and utterly her parents' daughter.

But today, ever since she woke up, she was grumpy and moody and threw a tantrum when her pink and purple sun dress Aero got her wasn't washed for her to wear today. Then she didn't want to do anything, didn't want to play dolls or tea or hide-an-go-seek or look at the dragon scales on his wall (in frames of course) like she usually did. She was quite partial to the glittering sapphire one, saying it reminded her something of her mum.

He set the playe down in front of her.

She tossed it on the floor with a crash and Charlie jumped out of his skin.

"Selena!" he yelped.

"No!" she cried angrily, "No, no no no NO!"

"What are you doing? You know you don't do that!" he shouted.

"I don't _want_ that!" she shrieked, staring up at him accussingly.

"You asked me to make it, what are you on about?"

"No!"

"Yes you did."

"No!"

"Selena stop this."

"No!" she said again, slamming her tiny fists down on the table.

"Selena! Enough. What is the matter with you?"

She stared up at him, her face so little and pretty and rosy cheeked and baby-faced and she suddenly looked close to tears, angry tears, but tears, and stared at him intensely, like he'd done some heinous crime.

"I said chocolate chip pancakes." she said.

"That's what I made you, love." he said, dumbfounded.

Her lip trembled and her eyes watered and his chest tightened at the sight.

"Not like daddy's." she said angrily before slipping the long drop off the chair with ease and storming from the room.

Charlie stared at where she had been sitting, listening to a door slam down the hall as she entered her little room. The plate was on the ground, smashed and in pieces, the pancake with the random droppings of chocolate chips on it still laying on the floor.

_Not like daddy's_.

It was a short sentece but it screamed a thousand words.


	52. Chapter 52 All kinds of wrong

She was living through hazy days at this point. Her head was constantly pounding, the blood in her veins creating a beat throughout every thought she had. She had gotten sick again that morning and her body was still trembling in after shocks. She was thinking about avoiding mirrors and reflections from now on. She had glanced at herself this morning and her collar bones were getting quite portruding and her face was thinning slightly, hollowing her cheeks and her eyes had circles under them and she was paler. Her eyes looked wild. She had tried to transfigure, after all, it was her genetic gift, but for the love of Merlin she could only seem to change the palor of her skin into something resembling her normal skintone, somewhat hiding her dark circles, the rest had to be done with make-up.

She ran a hand through her hair frustratedly and walked almost sleepily down the hall, despite it being mid-afternoon. She paused near the opening of one of the rooms when the fire place lit up and she poked her head in curiously, watching as Charlie came through, Selena standing poutily beside him before she shot through the room like a firebolt and up the stairs, presumably to her room.

Aero turned her head and raised a questioning eyebrow. Charlie threw his arms up and raked his hands through his hair with a tense laugh.

"What did you do to her?" Aero asked curiously.

"I didn't - I didn't do anything to her! She's been acting up all weekend, screaming at me and slamming doors and stomping her feet and - I think something's wrong." he said, deflating at the end.

Aero pursed her lips, eyes running over his slumped figure.

"Wrong how? She only threw a tantrum."

"Only a tantrum?"

"She's a child, a very young one. Obviously she's going to have fits."

Charlie shook his head.

"You don't get it. You weren't there. She...I was making her pancakes, you know, like she likes? But she tossed it to the ground and said...well she said I didn't _'make them like daddy'_ and ran to her room."

Charlie put his hands over his face and shook his head as he sat down.

Aero leaned against the doorframe and watched him. She sighed.

"Charlie...she lost her parents. Both of them, at the same time. She's not old enough to understand it, but she's old enough to notice it. We may have lost our friends but this girl...she lost, basically her whole world. I think she's entitled to be angry and moody."

Charlie leaned back and looked so lost at that moment Aero wondered if she should find _his_ mother.

"How are we supposed to help her though? I mean...we've given her the most stable life we can give her, right? I mean, I know we don't know a thing about kids, let alone parenting one, and yeah she sometimes has to go to Romania with me, and here she's living in a rebellion headquarters but...we're not messing her up, right?" he asked frantically, his eyes panicked as he caught her eyes.

Aero bit her lip and crossed her arms. Her heart beat increased and her stomach tried to turn itself inside out but she looked collected as ever on the outside.

"We're trying our best, and that's all Des and Shane asked. We're trying."

"What if it's not enough?" he asked quietly.

Aero was silent for a moment.

"It'll have to be, because that's all we have."

* * *

Fred searched through the whole apartment. He couldn't find his damn purple suite jacket. It had to be around somewhere, unless George had taken off with it, which happened quite frequently really, he was always tearing through his closet. Fred slumped against the bed, long legs splayed out across the bedroom floor and he ran his hands messily through his hair, making it stick up at odd ends.

Aero probably knew where it was, she generally kept track of things instinctually. But he was kind of avoiding her at the moment. Well, alright, maybe not _avoiding_, per se, but if he wanted to avoid serious conversation and the nagging in his brain everytime he noticed how off she was, he kind of had to steer clear of her. It sounded wrong, he knew that. There was nothing right about actually having a desire to go days without seeing the woman he's supposed to love. Which he does, both love her yet have the desire to avoid contact. Which was confusing on it's own. And hard. Because technically, they sort of maybe kinda sometimes lived together. _Occassionally_.

He groaned loudly, banging his head against the bed post. Things weren't nearly this hard back in school. Which was actually a lie, now that he thought about it. Their relationship was many things, but easy had never been one of them. They were determined to stay together though. They showed that by the many times they ended up together no matter what. But this time...Fred felt like it was different.

Yes, different, that was what it was. Something was different about them this time. Something had changed without either one of them noticing. He felt a little blindsighted. He thought they were fine and then _WHAM_, they weren't. It was like being hit with a bludger when he wasn't looking.

Aero was different. She was always a quite person, never really sharing her emotions and whatnot. They tended to scare her. Which Fred understood, because on the rarities Aero showed what she was feeling underneath that collected mask of hers, he was a bit frightened himself. She could be a bit intense. But now...

Now she was quite on a whole different level. Quite, like she was detatched, like it wasn't just a collected air she hung around herself for whatever reason she did. This was like she really didn't feel anything. A detatched sort of air was around her now. Fred frowned and wondered when it even started. Had it been at school? He would've noticed then, wouldn't he? Admittedly, things weren't quite the same after the times they fought and left each other, but he never noticed anything too dramatic. It might've just started after school then. Maybe. He wasn't sure. Bloody fucking hell.

And he couldn't deny she had been dwindling lately. She had lost quite a few pounds, nothing that sent alarms buzzing in his head, like she was trying to starve herself to death. But she looked more...she looked tinier. Her skin was paler too. She ahd been drinking more. She drank hard stuff, like Sirius did. Maybe she picked it up from him. Tonks seemed to drink hard when she happened upon a glass. Maybe it was just a genetic preference? On more than one occassion, he'd catch her lighting something up around the place, but the window would be open to air it out so he didn't raise a fuss, he would often be too distracted really to ask about it.

He shook his head. Nothing was wrong with Aero. Or him. They just had some issues they needed to work through, and they'd do that because they always did. Nothing ever got between them, not for long anyways. Not that Bulgarian twat, or Angelina who he still needed to remind at least every other day to stop writing him, or her family or anything. They were Fred and Aero, had been together since third year and would be until they both died. That's just how their story went.

He crawled onto his knees and got ready to stand when his eyes flicked straight forward towards the trash can on Aero's side of their bed, filled with tons of paper. It wasn't anything he was concerned about, just observed. George and he were constantly throwing messed up plans they sketched out in there and Aero probably had irrelevant paper work or something shoved in there. And while he noticed the envelops in there, several in fact that seemed un-opened, he ignored it and made his way to the shop downstairs, shouting at his twin to _unhand his dragon-scaled jacket at once before he lit his hair aflame_. The letters were soon forgotten, sitting at the bottom of the trashcan, unread and still sealed.

* * *

She leaned against the doorframe, watching her moody goddaughter repeatedly run a small pink brush through the golden silky hair of one of her dolls. She recognized the doll, it was from Desarie, from Selena's second birthday. Her little room had really filled up with all sorts of knick-knacks and toys. Neither Charlie nor Aero recollected having this many toys as a child. But Mrs. Weasley had brought over Charlie's old toys from when he was a baby, saying that _'with the way Charlie was infatuated with his dragons, she'd likely never get another grandchild from him'_. She seemed quite putoff and distressed when Aero told her she couldn't remember any toys she'd played with when she was little. She had mainly just played with Draco, amusing him with his own toys.

The dollhouse Dean and Darius had gotten for her was in the middle of her room, actual little burning candles hung in holders on the walls and talking little portraits that sounded more like a comforting hum in the quiet of the room than an actual conversation. It was quiet in the room though, which alone set Aero off. Selena was a very loud player. She liked to constantly talk to her dolls and stuffed animals and jump around her room and on the bed, though Mrs. Weasley told her almost five times a day not to jump on her bed (_Aero couldn't mind, herself, as Selena looked more than happy flying into the air and giggling, and as long as she didn't miss the bed on her way down.._.)

Aero rapped her knuckles gently against the wood in a way of knocking and Selena pursed her lips in a sort of _I'm-determined-to-ignore-you_ sort of pout. Aero rolled her eyes and pushed herself slowly into the room, folding herself onto the floor so she could look up at Selena on the bed.

"You wanna tell me what's gotten you all buggered?" she asked softly.

Selena shook her head fiercely and Aero bit her lip, nodding and glancing about the room.

"Charlie's rather upset, you know."

Selena's brow furrowed for a brief moment and continued on in her stoicness a moment later.

"Did something happen at Charlie's?"

When the little girl didn't reply Aero felt a wave of exhaustion hit her but now wasn't the time to zone out. Selena was troubled, and that troubled her guardians.

"He told me about the pancakes. That he doesn't make them like your daddy does."

Selena's eyes got all big and green and watery as she stared at her doll.

"He's awful sorry about that, Lena. He didn't mean to upset you. But...he can't really make them like your daddy, can he?"

Selena shook her head slowly and her chin wobbled.

"Lena, I know this is all really confusing and really scary. I also know it's okay to cry, because you don't understand any of this and you miss them. I know you just want your parents back, love..." Aero said gently, watching with an ache in her recently hollow-feeling chest as a tear fell down Selena's little rosy cheek.

Before she could blink Selena was launching herself off the bed and Aero only had time to curse quickly before Selena was clinging to her, though the force of her jump had rocked Aero back and one hand had to jut out behind her to steady them. Her stomach lurched. She wrapped the little sobbing girl in her arms and one hand rubbed circles on her back while the other held the back of her golden head and her little face nuzzled its way into the crook of her neck and warm tears splashed onto her skin.

"Shh, it's alright. I've got you, baby. I'm so sorry." she whispered, rocking them.

Selena's legs wrapped around her waist and her tiny body heaved with a trambling sob. Aero sat and comforted her as best she could, whispering soft nothings into her hair and holding her like she'd crumble if she let go. And all the while she couldn't help but feel this smothering force of heart-stopping guilt wash over her as she held the sobbing child of her murdered friends, who clung to her, the reason she was crying in the first place, in return. This situation was all kinds of wrong and she felt a part of her heart break off at the realization.

* * *

**I know this was an insanely short chapter, and an insanely long wait, but the next chapter should be up soon and should be longer. I just wanted to put something up, you know? I love you all for the reviews I've been getting, really! I love knowing your opinions! (I was so sad writing this Selena, because I stupidly thought it would be a good idea to listen to Ed Sheeran's 'small bump'. His songs make me cry.) **


	53. Chapter 53 I miss you

**Shock, horror I'm down **

**Lost, you're not around **

**There's a lump in my chest that, sends cold to my head and **

**my mind shuts sound out **

**I'm on auto-pilot, and my tongues gone silent **

**I don't know when I lost my mind, maybe it was every time, that you said  
**

**That I miss you **

* * *

He paused in the doorway, hand caught at the back of his neck where he'd been tirely scratching an itch.

There were clothes strewn across the floor, as per usual. The curtains were pulled across the window as the sun tried to wiggle its way in.

He frowned and lifted his hand to poke at the half covered body lying on the bed. This was the way he'd found his twin for about a week now. Always asleep and starking in bed, exhausted, and most noticeably _alone_.

Fred groaned and swatted an arm blindly in George's direction.

"Fuck off." he grunted into his pillow.

"Are you becoming a one night stand for your own girlfriend, mate?"

Fred heaved a sigh and turned onto his back, throwing an arm carelessly over his forehead and squinted at his brother.

"No, thank you, she just has things to do."

"Mhmm."

Fred eyed his brother with a narrow look.

"What?" he asked sharply.

George sat on his own bed, toeing off his shoes and shuffling a folder.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"It was implied."

"Nothing mate, really. It's just...well it's just odd."

"No it's not, George. She just has things to do is all."

"Like what, exactly? Fred, she's not working anymore. She's not scheduled for morning rounds. Where's she going?"

"You do remember she's got a kid to look after, right?"

George rolled his eyes.

"Fred..."

His twin turned away and faced the wall, his eyes solemn. He knew he wasn't sure where Aero ran off to. He'd come to terms with his new, more serious and melancholy relationship. He couldn't bring himself to care all the much as long as it was still Aero he got to call his. Things weren't going to be like they were before, he knew that. He expected that much.

So she'd been distant for awhile. Uninterested and tired and out a lot. Their conversations never had much depth anymore. And then this week, out of nowhere, they'd been having this mind-blowing sex. The type of sex where lamps would be knocked over, walls crashed into, bras thrown on doorhandles, shirt-ripping sex, sex where he'd finally see her eyes light up again and that would be the end of him. So if she wanted to leave while he slept to do whatever it was she did, he was fine with that as long as she continued letting him see her eyes light up like that.

"Leave it, George."

"I'm just concerned. About you both. About you."

Fred's heart clenched and he squeezed his eyes shut as they watered against his will and he felt the bed dip and the warmth of his twin folded in around him as arms wrapped around his waist, just holding him close. A nose nuzzled against him and Fred's body trembled as he cried, not letting a single sound escape him, but his pillow was under heavy rainfall none-the-less.

He couldn't tell when Aero left. But he missed her.

* * *

Aero glanced up from the Quibbler at the kitchen table, pausing in her conversation with a grumbly Dung, and peered at Selena who just entered.

"Is your dress on backwards?"

"No."

"And inside out?"

"No."

"And did you get into my make-up?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No-_wait!_-hold-yes."

Aero made a face, as she could clearly see Selena had tried to dress herself and her green dress was on backwards and inside out and she had a big red lipstick drawing over her general mouth location. She glanced back at her paper.

"Would you like breakfast?" Aero asked.

"I make myself."

"Well, of course."

Selena made her way further into the room and opened the cabinets, which were basically as tall as her, and hummed a tune to herself. When she couldn't find something in one cabinet, she left the doors open and moved on to another. Dung grumbled on, rather loudly for so early in the morning, about this illegal adventure he had gone on...for business purposes of course.

"An he says to me, 'ee says, Mistah you can't be having none of this shite, cause it's still property of the Ministry O' Magic and what all, and I says to eem, I says, listen mate, I knows more peoples in that damn building and I can take this stuff by simple 'sociation and what not-"

"Dung, you're not dropping names, are you?" Remus asks as he comes into the room.

"Course not, course not, Mad-eye tells me not to, course I don't." Dung muttered.

"You think anyone would actually believe one of our Ministry members would befriend Dung and let him off for things, Lupin?" Sirius asked, walking in and scratching his stomach.

"Sirius, put some clothes on. Have a bit of decency." Remus muttered, stealing Aero's paper and using it to shield his face.

"Nothing you haven't seen before, Remus."

"Something_ I'd_ like to not have seen before." Aero offered.

Sirius rolled his eyes and sat down at the head of the table, reclining lazily.

A clattering of pans and pots pierced the air.

"I's okay!" a tiny voice cried.

"Alright, you carry on then." Aero responded, shaking her head.

Remus choked on his spit and his eyes bugged.

"Sirius! Put on some clothes, good God man, there's a child here!"

Sirius eyed Remus with little interest.

"You weren't even drinking anything, what the hell did you choke on, honestly?"

"Sirius!" Remus cried.

"Remus!" Sirius mimicked.

"Tonks!" she cried as she walked into the room, giving a small yawn at the end, and blinked at everyone. "What? I thought we were role calling?"

"No, Sirius is just naked and Remus is having a coronary about it." Aero supplied.

Tonks slumped over in a chair and cocked her head.

"Remus, you have seen a cock before, right?"

Remus sputtered something and a vein pulsed in his forehead.

Tonks raised her brow and regarded him curiously.

"Or maybe there's something you'd like to say, Remus. How do you feel about cock?"

"Cock!" chimed a voice from inside a bottom cabinet.

Remus made a whining noise in his throat and his head became hidden in his hands. Sirius barked a laugh and Aero sighed through her nose.

"Tonks, _language_, honestly."

"What's a cock?"

"See what you've done now?"

Selena poked her head out of the cabinet and looked sternly at Aero.

"_What is cock?_"

Aero glanced at her, feeling a headache, not to mention a churning stomach.

"Rooster."

"Huh?"

"A cock is a rooster, Lena. _Cock-a-doodle-doo_."

Understanding dawned the little face and took it for a reasonable answer before hiding herself away in the cabinet again and continuing her search for - _what was she even looking for at this point?_

A sharp pain pierced her stomach and Aero shifted uneasily in her seat, hand absently rubbing at her rather hard belly. Her head was suddenly pounding and she blinked, trying to clear her vision from the haziness around the edges.

"So, where's the Fredmeister this lovely morning?" Tonks asked.

Aero barely registered the question at first but swallowed some vomit and turned slightly to face her cousin.

"Sleeping, I presume."

"Yeah? Lots of orders coming into the shop I bet."

"Yeah, yeah. Lots of...lots.." Aero winced, shifting in her seat again.

Tonks frowned and leaned towards her a little.

"Alright there?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just a little stomach ache. But uhm, yes, there's lots of orders coming in, from the school and everything."

"Good business though, I bet. Kids wanting to get back at Umbridge and all."

"The boys are more than willing to help them with that."

Tonks laughed.

"I bet."

"Selena, what are you doing?" Sirius called, looking around Remus and towards the kitchen.

"There is a pop bottle. Open for me?"

"No-_Selena darling that's_- not for children-"

"I want it!"

"Selena darling-"

"I will open myself."

"Aero, your kid is stealing my fire-whiskey."

"Stop leaving your fire-whiskey near my kid."

"How was I supposed to know she likes to play in dusty cabinets?"

"I agree, horrible foresight on your part."

"Let the runt have a swig, ain't gonna harm nobody." Dung said, leaning back in his chair.

"No! She's four, she can't go around having alcohol." Remus protested, staring at Dung like he'd grown tentacles from his ears.

"Not even just a sip?" Tonks offered.

Remus whipped to look at her and she spread her hands in the universal 'I-surrender' gesture and smiled at him.

Selena poked her head out around the cabinet and Aero seriously thought Remus might have that coronary. Selena had shed her clothes, leaving her socks on, and sat down on the floor, the bottle of fire-whiskey open in her hands. She grinned a gaped-tooth grin and Aero could've sworn her eyes actually sparkled.

"I look like Uncle Sirius."

* * *

**I'm just sitting on a fence of how it used to be **

**These three words are aching, constrict them suffocating **

**I don't know when I lost my mind, maybe when I made you mine **

**I miss you, more than I let on**

* * *

She could hear them all talking downstairs, enjoying their breakfast. Occasionally her Great-Aunt Walburga would start shrieking when someone rang the bell, despite the thousands of times Sirius told them not to. So far Walburga had screamed three times. It wasn't anyway to keep time but she couldn't bring her eyes to the clock. She couldn't bring herself to look at anything really.

Aero was huddled into a small, slightly trembling, ball in on the side of her bed, far from the mirror. She wasn't allowing herself to look in the mirror and she wanted nothing more than to cover it up, break it into tiny shards so it would never reveal such a sight to her ever again. She couldn't so much as blink right then though so it remained free to reflect whatever horrifying images it wanted.

Her hands were shaking a bit and her breathing was irregular, like she couldn't catch her breath and her head was swimming with the pounding of her own blood and a pleading mantra.

_This couldn't be happening._

She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top, staring blankly at the floor.

_This couldn't be real._

She placed her hands on the floor and slowly crawled on her hands and knees across the floor and peeked around the bed. She saw her face, pale and thin and sickly looking, peering back at her. She had lost weight. If she hadn't lost so much weight she probably wouldn't have even seen that horrifying image and could pretend it wasn't happening for just a little while longer.

She shakily stood on her feet and stood in front of the mirror. She turned to the side and lifted her shirt up with hard, determined eyes. Her fingers ghosted her hard stomach and her heart failed.

_There couldn't be something in there. _

This wasn't happening. _  
_

* * *

An owl hooted at the window that night, staring with large yellow eyes into the dimly lit bedroom. She peeked at it, curled up in her blankets and numb to the bone. Her head was heavy and her heart was dying and someone had chosen now to write her a letter.

She didn't recognize it. She didn't know whose owl this was but she wanted to kill it, to watch it fall from the sky. She wanted to jump out the window after it.

She didn't even recognize the hand-writing; cursive and elegant scrawl but written with a heavy hand as the ink almost bled through the paper.

_I don't know where you're hidden, so you'll have to do me the honor of coming to see me, darling. _

_I promise no tricks. No lies. I just wish to see you.  
_

_Come to Nocturn Alley tomorrow evening, my little one, at midnight.  
_

_I cannot wait.  
_


	54. Chapter 54 Little something inside

**They say it's genetic, They say he can't help it, **

**They say you can catch it but sometimes you're born with it  
**

**It is traditional, it is inherited, predispositional  
**

**All day I've been wondering what is inside of me  
**

**Who can I blame for it?  
**

**I say it runs in the family!  
**

* * *

Her fingers grabbed at her stomach and prodded the surface carefully. What if something was in there? What if there was this little, tiny -_no._

Nothing was in there. If something was in there then she wouldn't know what she'd do. If something was in there, that would mean she was a_ -no_.

There was nothing in there. She was dead inside. There was no life inside.

Never the less, that didn't stop her from ending up wide awake and anxiously awaiting for Sirius, who was dead to the world beside her, to wake up as well. He'd had another nightmare that night, each one growing more horrific than the last the longer he was kept shut away in this house. She had read to him some story book he had when he was a kid and waited until he calmed. She was helpless to do more than that.

Maybe Sirius would know what to do. Maybe he could calm her this time around, calm her from her own painstakingly real nightmare. Maybe Remus was the more sensible of the two and maybe she should go to him, but he'd be reasonable and actually consider the fact that there was something there and she wouldn't. Tonks was away at work and Andromeda, well Aero didn't want to bother her while she was cleaning or something, her aunt tended to get shrill if interrupted. And Molly was definitely no an option, not when this was possibly her -_no_.

Sirius was a little unstable, and it was hard to find him at a sober time no and he was a little irritable depending on the hour, but he was all she had left, really. Andromeda had her own family, a husband and a daughter and they were relatively normal and happy. Narcissa was out of her life now, the only parental figure she'd had growing up, and she even had her own version of a family. Everyone else was dead. Sirius was the odd one out in the family, and perhaps that's why she was still there, waiting for him.

"What're you doin' up?" Sirius' muffled voice came.

She shifted low on the pillows and took a steadying breath.

"Sirius..."

He lifted his head and peered at her with drowsy grey eyes not unlike her own.

"Well, this sounds serious."

She met his eyes with a mournful one of her own.

"What's wrong? Did Fred do something again? I swear, I can only contain myself from killing him so many times-"

"It's not Fred. Well, technically, I suppose it is indeed Fred's, so it involves him slightly, but he really didn't do anything wrong..."

"If you're done rambling, maybe you can tell me why you're gloomier than a hurricane this morning?"

Aero glanced uneasily at the ceiling and tapped her fingertips in a shifty beat on her stomach.

"Did you ever consider having children?" she asked.

Sirius blinked once in surprise before leaning onto his elbows and staring hard at his pillow.

"Once upon a time, yes."

"Why didn't you?"

"It just never happened. There was a moment when I thought maybe, but I was wrong. It's better off, looking back at it. I mean, look at me now."

"What would you have done, if you found out you were a father?"

Sirius squinted at her and pursed his lips.

"I have a feeling I'm entirely too sober for this conversation."

Aero huffed and looked down at him.

"I would have taken care of the kid, obviously. Where is this going? Did some mystery child show up on the doorstep in a basket?"

"No." Aero moaned, running a hand through her hair.

"Then what's with the interrogation? What's going on?"

"You would have a kid...raise a kid, even with these genetics, this family tree, being raised as we were..."

"I would hope like all hell the runt turned out like their mother."

"But what if it didn't? What if it turned out to be another Black? I mean, Blacks aren't known for excellent child rearing, Sirius. We tend to mess up in every possible way."

"True. It's better that I never had kids. My parents never should have had kids. In all truth, they should snip us all at child birth."

It was silent for a moment and Aero begged herself the dig up the courage to say it. It was like it got stuck in her throat half way up. Her fingers tapped an unsteady beat and then his hand was on both of hers and he looked her dead in the eye, the most serious she had ever seen him. She eyed him wearily, almost fearfully and Sirius never wavered and repeated himself;

"I hope to all hell the runt turns out like its mother."

* * *

"Someone's dressed up."

Tonks stopped in the doorway and rolled her eyes. She shifted one hand to her hip and Aero appraised her cousin's choice of outfit. It was a little more revealing than usual, though still totally quirky and would never make it into a magazine. Tonks slid onto the counter and hooked her legs over themselves and started playing with a tear in her black lace tights.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Tonks wondered.

Aero gave her a look and continued folding the little pink dress in front of her.

"Laundry. Something you've never done in your life."

"Why waste my time when my Mum is perfectly happy to help out?"

"Because you're older and yet I'm more adult than you."

"You're folding little girl clothes. I think you sort of have to be."

"I could make you do it."

"You probably could, but you won't, so there's no point in this discussion."

"Well, gee, Tonks, if you didn't come all this way to talk about my laundry techniques, what did you come over for?"

Tonks rolled her shoulders a bit and shrugged, looking around the room and popping a gum bubble.

"Spit it out."

"Like actually spit on you or-"

"I'm three wasted seconds away from killing you right here."

"Alright, alright, Merlin's balls you're in a right mood. I came over here to ask your oh-so-wise help."

Aero put down a pair of little yellow duck socks and leaned back against the counter top, raising an eyebrow.

"This sounds like something I won't want to get involved in, actually."

"Please?"

"What do you want?"

"I want you to..." Tonks paused and looked around the room.  
"I want you to teach me how to make the Wolfsbane Potion."

Aero opened her mouth but found she hadn't expected it and had no reply.

"_What?_" she asked.

"The Full Moon Potion, you know...for Remus?"

"Why would you want to learn how to do that?"

"Well, you know how to do it, don't you?"

"Barely. Snape mostly does it."

"But Remus prefers someone he trusts to do it. So...teach me."

"I still haven't heard why."

"Because well...well you're so busy now, with training and Order work and Selena and all so I figured I'd help out."

Aero looked skeptical.

"Uh-huh..."

Tonks pouted and wrung her hands together.

"_Please_."

Aero sighed and turned back to her clothes.

"Fine."

Tonks pumped her fists in the air.

"But only if you come to St. Mungo's with me later -and promise not to tell anyone."

* * *

"No!"

"Sit down and eat."

"No!"

"You did not just throw your spoon."

"I don't wanna eat!"

"That's funny, I don't recall _asking_ you."

"Nooo!"

"Selena Lathum, you do not throw things! Sit down on your bum and eat you dinner!"

"No! Don't wanna! Ick! No!"

Aero slid her head onto her hand and massaged her temple, glaring at the angry and red toddler in front of her.  
She didn't have time for this. She had to go to that meeting, the one from the note. And Selena was being pissy.

"Eat your food."

"No and you can't make me!"

Aero took a deep breath and stood from her chair. She walked around the table, grabbed Selena by the arm and walked them both up the stairs, Selena screaming her head off and stomping her feet and shouting at her until they got to the blonde's room and Aero put her down on her bed. She glanced around the room and waved her wand, watching the toys in the room levitate and move out into the hallway. Selena shrieked and scratched her arm in retaliation and Aero ripped it away from her.

"You're being a bad girl, Lena. Now sit in here and cry until you're blue in the face for all I care, but you do not get to throw tantrums whenever you want with punishments. Now you're staying in your room all night, no toys, not dinner." Aero gave her a slightly irritated kiss goodnight on the forehead and left the room, locking it shut behind her and storming down the stairs, her stomach twisting as she listened to Selena wail alone in her room.

She past a solemn looking Remus on the stairs and brushed past a muttering Kreacher on her way out the door.

She couldn't help but think, if there was a something in there, could she handle another tantrum-throwing tot around the house when she could barely handle her own goddaughter?

* * *

It was dark and the pavement was wet and her paws felt the dampness cling to her fur. If it was any other neighborhood, someone might notice a lone wolf skulking around in the alleys, but this was Nocturn Alley and people probably just thought she was someone's dark pet.

Whoever sent her the message was mental if they thought she would show up looking like herself. With her other method of changing currently facing unforeseen difficulties, probably from stress, she figured her less emotional counter-part was decent enough for this outing. So she found herself walking through puddles and weaving in and out of alleys and thinking about who she was going to meet.

They hadn't left a name and she didn't recognize the hand-writing and left no clue to who they were. It was sketchy and Remus and Mad-eye would yell at her later if they found out that she was there, but she felt a need to know.

She peered out of the alley across from the meeting place and waiting, looking to see someone familiar. It had to be someone she knew.

For fifteen minutes she waiting anxiously and then it happened and her breath whooshed out of her like she was punched in the gut. The man was dressed in a long black trench coat, his skin was pale, like he hadn't seen sun in years, and his hair was long and matted and rust colored. His eyes were sharp and piercing, even in the night, and he was reclined in his chair as he drank a pint.

If that wasn't alarming enough, the figure that stopped by his table was one thing she hadn't seen coming. The newcomer shrugged off his jacket, a little angrily, and plopped himself down onto a chair and seemed to scowl at the man who just gave a low sort of laugh. Aero felt herself creep closer, wanting to hear the words exchanged. But her mind was panicking and her heart was racing.

It was one thing that he wrote her a letter...but why was her father meeting with Thantos Stict?


End file.
